Wednesday, October 15, 2008

A spectacular volte-face in the spiritual home of capitalism


By Rupert Cornwell
The Independent

"The sum, when set against the stratospheric amounts promised by governments of far smaller economies, is relatively modest. But even at "only" $250bn (£143bn), Washington's plan to part-nationalise some of the country's largest banks is an astonishing – if inevitable – volte-face by the country that sees itself as the spiritual home of unadulterated free-market capitalism.......

This near-unprecedented intervention has been carried out by a Republican administration, in theory as conservative as they come. As matters stand, the next President seems likely to be a Democratic Senator, with one of the most liberal voting records in Congress. He will work with a strongly Democratic House, while his party could emerge from the election with a filibuster-proof 60-40 seat majority in the Senate. What further indignities might then be heaped on America's battered free market?"

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