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Showing posts from October 15, 2008

The irony of saving capitalism from itself?

Business Times - 16 Oct 2008 If economic crisis is not contained, next US govt may alter notions of free-market America By LEON HADAR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT LIKE most journalists, I like irony. We journalists insert 'ironically' into a sentence as a way of underscoring that things didn't work out as planned, such as in: 'Ironically, US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson had initially been strongly opposed to the idea of federal government investing directly in private banks, which is exactly the policy that the Bush administration announced on Tuesday.' Or in: 'It's quite ironic that the pro-free market Republican administration of George W Bush that once upon a time was even promoting the idea of privatising the national pension scheme (Social Security) is now presiding over what President Bush described as an 'unprecedented and aggressive' plan to partly nationalise nine major American banks.' Yes. Some delicious ironies indeed. And there are s