30/09/2008 10:00:53 am
Crises Are Dangerous For Freedom. If Naomi Klein had been correct, these times of financial crisis would be a great opportunity to launch free-market reforms. But, as The Economist points out, the opposite is likely to happen:

"The reaction to the crisis is bound to go too far, and allow the state to get too big."

What many see is the crisis in financial markets. Therefore, it is easy to blame those markets (and naturally, there will always be downturns in markets). But what many do not see are several underlying causes of the crisis; state interventions such as bad regulations, semi-government companies and an expansionist monetary policy.

Despite the apparent risk of a policy tilt towards more government intervention - which partly causes the crisis - some don′t want government to take part of the blame. Sometimes, the search for a middle way to everything is a greater threat to freedom than big government advocates themselves.