Free market must be fair market

According an Associated Press story, Obama economic adviser Dr. Larry Summers made millions on hedge funds.

Do we have the fox watching the chicken coop?

Summers is a Wall Street insider with little concern for Main Street. There is little wonder that he supported the AIG executive's huge bonuses. Our present economic woes can be largely attributed to credit abuse and derivatives such as hedge funds, and instruments of mass wealth destruction like Consolidated Debt Obligations and Credit Default Swaps.

The free market will work as long as it is a fair market but legalizing such practices makes it impossible for congressional watchdogs to watch over such complex regulations. Just as the Justice department must make plea deals with criminals because they know where the bodies are buried it may be necessary to use Summers and other Wall Street moguls to learn how to straighten out the current economic mess.

Let us have the audacity to hope that significant reforms are made in the future. My basic education is engineering so I may be missing something. What good are hedge funds and other derivatives? It seems to me that they should be made illegal. If you agree, write to your representatives and if you do not agree educate me.

Russell C. W. Crom

Mount Prospect