A simple phrase worth repeating: "It isn't the free market that succeeds or fails; it's individuals acting within the free markets that succeed or fail."
In a speech at the close of FPA Denver 2010, speaker Ian Bremmer essentially told us to prepare for our Chinese overlords. The geopolitical strategist and author recalled a conversation with a highly-placed Chinese diplomat. The diplomat began by asking, "Now that the free market has failed, what should be the role of the state?"
Bremmer mentioned it almost as a non-sequitur in support of his latest book, The End of the Free Market, about the resurgence of the state in response to the global crisis, and he then quickly moved on. But it reminded me of the old socialist adage; the one about how socialists love individuals, just in groups of a million or more.
