By BOB DAVIS,Wall Street Journal
The New Central Planners
In 2008 and 2009,Washington strove to save the economy. In 2010,Americans will get a clearer picture of how Washington has changed the economy.
Only as the recession recedes will it become fully evident how permanently the state’s role has expanded and whether,as a consequence,a new,hybrid strain of American capitalism is emerging.
One thing is clear:The government is a much bigger force in today’s U.S. economy than it was before the financial crisis. “The frontier between the state and market has shifted,”says Daniel Yergin,whose 1998 book “Commanding Heights”chronicled the ascent of free-market forces starting in the 1980s. “The realm of the state has been enlarged.”
To prevent crumbling housing and credit markets from sinking the broad economy,the Bush and Obama administrations and the Federal Reserve spent,lent and invested more than $2 trillion on one initiative after another. If you owned a credit card or a money-market fund,had a savings account,bought a Dodge pickup or even a hunting rifle,or borrowed to buy a home or finance a small business,odds are good that the U.S. stood behind you or the firm that served you.