No such thing as a free lunch. Or a free market either.

Just remember the next time some neo-con or libertarian (and they aren't always the same thing, mind you) starts spouting off tripe about the "free market" (and trust me, you run into these morons occasionally), we don't actually live in a "free market" economy (the hard core libertarian probably won't disagree with that assertion: any government oversight or regulation of commerce rubs them wrong). This week provided a pretty vivid example, as Bear Stearns, a firm whose poor decision making led it to insolvency, was bailed out by the government, and, by extension, all the taxpayers who are now footing more directly the bill for Bear Stearns' overpaid executives.