This pithy phrase, which has the benefit of catching the attention of anti-government fetishists, while encouraging them to see the implications of socializing losses while privatizing profits, was used in the following recent summary of policy responses to the 2008 financial crash:
The core global financial system became the ward of the states. The idea that this was a private system was revealed to be an illusion. Taxpayers woke up to discover that bankers were exceptionally highly paid and out-of-control civil servants.
This is from a
Financial Times column by Martin Wolf, which has a broader scope suggested by its title
“We still live in Lehman’s shadow” and its sub-title
“The bank’s collapse was but a symptom of the looming crisis”.
The column (on the registration-required Financial Times website) is also extracted and discussed at Brad Delong’s blog here.
Wolf’s column concludes:
…it is high time that the White House nominated the next chair of the Fed...
It should, of course, be Janet Yellen, the current vice-chair.