economic crisis

Leader’s tricky challenge of saving US from hell

At the moment, the United States is focused on what’s gone wrong with the private sector. There’s a lot to talk about. From Bernie Madoff’s self-declared Ponzi scheme, to Dick Fuld’s Jonestown-style collective immolation at Lehman Brothers, to the subprime lending fiasco, the US version of the market economy – and many of its leading players – have failed more spectacularly than even the darkest dreams of Noam Chomsky could predict.

Robert Reich, Bill Clinton’s Labor Secretary, says Americans suspend suspicion of the government in tough times: “When the economy is in severe crisis, the public wants government intervention – it distrusts the private sector more than it distrusts the government.”