Quote of the day

There’s a popular historical legend that goes like this: Once upon a time (for this is how stories of this kind should begin), back in the 19th century, the United States economy was almost completely unregulated and laissez-faire. But then there arose a movement to subject business to regulatory restraint in the interests of workers and consumers, a movement that culminated in the presidencies of Wilson and the two Roosevelts.

This story comes in both left-wing and right-wing versions, depending on whether the government is seen as heroically rescuing the poor and weak from the rapacious clutches of unrestrained corporate power, or as unfairly imposing burdensome socialistic fetters on peaceful and productive enterprise. But both versions agree on the central narrative: a century of laissez-faire, followed by a flurry of anti-business legislation.

Every part of this story is false.

…

Roderick Long, via Will Wilkinson. Read the whole thing.

Incidentally, I see now that I forgot to summarize my reading experience in the Solzhenitsyn-posts. So did I even like the book I quoted at such length? Of course I did, if I didn’t there would not have been a post mentioning the book on this blog, you can be quite sure of that. I liked the book very much, and even if it is quite long (my version has 713 pages), it never feels ‘longish’. If you think a part-fiction, part-historical narrative of the first horrible month of Russian warfare during the Great War might interest you, you should go for it. If your favourite book is Jane Eyre, stay away from it.