The clear failure of deregulated markets

It has been interesting to watch the celebration on Wall Street these past couple of days.

And what were the economic elite of America celebrating? A bipartisan agreement that government is the problem, not the solution? Nope.

The economic elite was celebrating the largest-in-history federal involvement in the free market system, supported by at least $700 billion of taxpayer dollars. And why?

Obviously such action was necessary to solve a problem created by a huge failure of free markets, operating after 27 years of deregulation and lax enforcement of existing rules.

The irony is that while the economic elite have voted with their dollars and created an 800-point rally in the market, in five weeks these same folks will return to their comfortable myths about free markets and rugged individualism.

They will cast their presidential votes as if we all live in tiny villages out on the frontier and don't need no stinkin' government.

They will vote as if they actually believe that corporations and free markets will begin acting in the national interest.

Too bad the realities of this crisis will not be enough to permanently expose the absurdity of that myth.

Jeff Huebner

Schaumburg