Not a policy that makes a lot of sense. The Virtues and Limits of Markets. Like Shaw's book, it is a sensible, moderate look at a broad problem with some horrifying specific results. The ideal of a free, self-regulating market is newly triumphant. The historical lessons of market excess, from the Gilded Age to the Great Depression, have all but dropped from the collective memory.
Government stands impeached and impoverished, along with democratic politics itself.
Unfettered markets are deemed both the essence of human liberty and the most expedient route to prosperity. In the United States, the alternative to laissez-faire has never been socialism. The idea was that market forces could do many things well - but not everything. Kuttner's book is pragmatic and readable, offering both an intelligent appreciation of markets and trenchant criticism. Since the ideology of free markets allows government no role in creating a just society, it perforce is left with nothing to do but regulate individual behavior.