'Emerald City' Goes Bust

"There is no magic spell that the wizards can concoct to make things work exactly as they would like. This mysterious 'market' that we so often invoke is little more than the sum total of human interactions and exchanges and transactions ? goods, services, ideas, information ? whether they have a direct economic basis or a purely social value. When we talk about 'managing' the economy or the market, what we really mean is controlling people's peaceful and productive interactions by force. You cannot stop all people in all places and times and situations from engaging in this activity, nor can you exert direct control over them all. Such would require godlike power that not even the 'Unitary Executive' Bush can claim." Column by Marcel Votlucka.