10/19/98
An excellent editorial in The Nation, "Crony Capitalism," 10/19/98, makes the observation that no sooner had Congress passed harsh new bankruptcy restrictions on individuals trying to obtain debt relief than Alan Greenspan and the US Fed are plunking down $3.65 billion to bail out Long-Term Capital Management of Greenwich, Conn..
This inspiring generosity toward a giantic business, whose portfolio is estimated at $1.25 trillion, is in considerable contrast to the freemarket rhetoric that was used to dress up the "Welfare Reform" legislation passed in the 1996 Congressional session. Poor people, single mothers struggling to raise children on minimum wage, were told after two years they'd have to make it on their own. Apparently corporate businesses needs all the safety nets that are left, after the S and L "crisis" bailout, Chrysler, etc.etc..
The Nation also points out that the freemarketeers, "the IMF and other US-based financial institutions persist in imposing harsh free-market regimes from Russia to Latin America and...routinely heap calumny upon the 'crony capitalism' of East Asian nations."