Huh? Doesn't it sound as though maybe, just maybe, those so-called "free market" principles were total nonsense in the first place? Jury-rigging a system to squash competition in favor of big business and ignoring basic oversight hardly sounds like a recipe for success. Of course, Bush has trashed every business that he's ever touched including the US economy so why start thinking now? How is it even possible to repeat the delusional "free market" pitch today? Then again, how could an incoming President round up so many unrepentant free marketers to guide the economy?
US President George W. Bush said in an interview Tuesday he was forced to sacrifice free market principles to save the economy from "collapse."
"I've abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system," Bush told CNN television, saying he had made the decision "to make sure the economy doesn't collapse."
Bush's comments reflect an extraordinary departure from his longtime advocacy for an unfettered free market, as his administration has orchestrated unprecedented government intervention in the face of a dire financial crisis.
"I am sorry we're having to do it," Bush said.
But Bush said government action was necessary to ease the effects of the crisis, offering perhaps his most dire assessment yet of the country's economy.
"I feel a sense of obligation to my successor to make sure there is not a, you know, a huge economic crisis. Look, we're in a crisis now. I mean, this is -- we're in a huge recession, but I don't want to make it even worse."
