"Washington and Wall Street need each other."

At The Freeman, Sheldon Richman has some thoughts about the Occupy Wall Street protests:

What the protesters miss is that corporate power is derived from government power – it's the most dangerous derivative. Without State power no bank (or collection of them) could set the economy on a balsawood platform of inflated currency and cheap credit, creating the conditions for recession and long-term unemployment; nor could it stick taxpayers with the cost of bad investments. Such mischief requires a central bank and congressional power to compel the taxpayers. Washington and Wall Street need each other. They don't agree on everything, but their public feuds should not mislead anyone into thinking they are adversaries. They are in cahoots, dependent on a system that constrains regular people's honest economic activities and benefits an exploitative elite.