[legion]

In Atlas Shrugged, the government passes laws in an attempt to force total equality in the marketplace. As each new regulation is passed, it causes a host of unintended consequences that cause an economic meltdown. This happens slowly at first, then with an accelerating pace until the economy is completely in shambles.

Contrast that with the whole subprime mess. This was created by the government forcing banks to lend to people who were not credit worthy. When that started to cause problems, we got TARP, then the second "stimulus", and now another rescue is being debated.

In both cases, the government created the problems, then tried to solve them by forcing businesses to act against their own self-interest.