Government Putting A Gun To Its Head

Bloomberg's Caroline Baum's latest...

The U.S. is supposed to be a beacon of capitalism for the rest of the world.

Our leaders preach the merits of free markets to developing countries looking to emerge from poverty.

Jim Glassman, senior U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase:

"We want free-market mechanisms as long as everything is doing fine. In times of crisis, we want to keep market mechanisms in check."

Epistles are already being written about the death of capitalism. Liberals are saying I-told-you-so, brandishing examples of market failure.

How do we know the market failed if we don't allow it to work? Capitalism without failure is like religion without sin.

Congress needs Fannie and Freddie to gobble up all the mortgages (that) banks are willing to make, to prevent a complete implosion in the housing market.

Maybe Treasury should start a taxpayer-funded sovereign wealth fund and buy all the bad loans -- even foreclosed homes -- no one wants.

You can't whine about the death of capitalism when government is putting a gun to its head
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