[thecavemaster]

"I don't think we have a free market model. What we have is the wealthy using their power to control government and shape the rules in ways that redistribute income upward. The so-called free-marketers don't want the market left alone; they just want the government to structure the market to serve their interests...People often view the economic debate as being between conservatives, who want to leave everything to the market, and progressives, who want the government to intervene and ensure basic standards of living. In reality both sides want to intervene, but progressives sometimes take at face value the claim that conservatives want a free market. ... Markets are a useful tool. Raving against them is like raving against the wheel: you can either do bad things with the wheel, or you can do great things with the wheel. The point is not to get rid of the market; the point is to structure the market in a way that benefits society as a whole."

Source: Dean Baker, widely acknowledged as being among the first economists to have pointed out the housing bubble...