Financial Times FT.com

Why America needs a little less laisser faire

By Barney Frank

Published: January 14 2008 02:00 | Last updated: January 14 2008 02:00

As we prepare for this autumn's election, the results are in on America's 30-year experiment with radical economic deregulation. Income inequality has risen to levels not seen since the 1920s and the collapse of the unregulated portion of the mortgage and secondary markets threatens the health of the overall economy.

These two economic failures will be major issues in the forthcoming presidential election and, importantly, there is an emerging Democratic consensus standing in sharp contrast to the laisser faire Republican approach.

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