Delong on "Free Market" fanaticism... also known as... "making stuff up"

Very in-depth blog post from Brad Delong... but the quote that picks up on my biggest theme--or maybe the biggest theme I have picked up from economist such as Delong is that of accepting the power and capacity of markets, but respecting that markets function because of humans and can and should be contingent on what creates the best social policy.

The Regulation of the Mixed Economy in Action

The argument against progressive income taxation requires a claim that the rich don't need any help from government, and is fatally undermined by any admission that the rich stand to benefit from the safety net as much--nay, enormously more in dollar terms--than the poor. But, as Robert Peel would put it, in financial matters the question is never laissez-faire vs. regulation, but always good smart regulation vs. bad stupid regulation.