Health care reform, financial regulation reform, and energy reform are the main pieces of legislation that are actually passed or in the works. All three will increase transparency and competition exactly in the private market segments that need them. Those who spin the tale of an antibusiness administration seem to have forgotten what they learned in basic economics classes. The textbook examples of market failures that require corrective action by (drum roll, please) the government are (hold your breath) health care, financial services, and energy. These markets do not work properly—they fail, in standard econ language—because businesses can gain an advantage over consumers and other businesses.
The technical term for this is monopolistic competition, but the all-too-real implication is that consumers pay too much and get too little of what they need.
— Christian E. Weller in “Obama’s Pro-Market Economics”
