We are in the midst of an economic crisis that is unequaled in my lifetime (and I have been around a few years). Starting with the financial collapse of key institutions, our system of capitalism appears shaken to its core. The government has tried to minimize the damage with several huge bailouts, but it is clear that there is no playbook from which to operate.
In mid-November, for instance, then-President Bush proclaimed that “Government intervention is not a cure-all … history has shown that the greater threat to economic prosperity is not too little government involvement in the market but too much.” Just over a month later, the president said he was considering all options, including bailouts of the Big Three automakers, saying the move was “to make sure the economy doesn’t collapse … I have abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system.”
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Richard A. Cosier
Dean and Leeds Professor of Management |
