September 22, 2008

Everything is going according to plan…

By: AF Editors

I don’t normally read him, but following some of my colleague’s links to Matthew Yglesias’ site led me to a veritable cornucopia of suggestions for expanding government control over the market. Lest anyone accuse him of secret plotting, he comes right out with it in at least one post:

It turns out not to be the case that the Chinese character for “crisis” is formed by combining the characters for “danger” and “opportunity.” Nonetheless, people always repeat that idea because it’s genuinely insightful. This financial crisis is a great opportunity for progressives to gain some leverage over a set of economic problems that it’s normally difficult to devise a workable method of addressing.

Why, it’s like Naomi Klein’s shock doctrine in reverse!

For some reason it makes me think of a bunch of earnest young progressives sitting around a table like S.P.E.C.T.R.E, carefully monitoring the deterioration of our financial markets.

There is, of course, no James Bond in this scenario.