Jeffrey Sachs: Banks do not want to operate in free market only to play games

  Jeffrey Sachs the well known Columbia University economist is quite critical of the banks in an interview on Al Jazeera. Sachs is well known for his advocacy of  shock therapy during the transition of  the former Soviet Union to capitalism. Part of the shock was to privatize state resources often to the oligarchs who now control much of the Russian economy. Sachs however has been quite critical of the U.S. banks during the recent financial troubles in the U.S.
   Sachs notes that the banks had pushed for deregulation  and sang the praises of the free market. Once the government got out of the way everything would be hunky dory. However, the banks then used their freedom to make very risky and even illegal moves that helped bring on the financial crisis.
    Then when they are in big trouble they call on the big government to bail them out. All of a sudden the government becomes their savior rather than the enemy of progress.
    Soon they were back paying huge bonuses after just being bailed out. Again too they cry out against regulation. Sachs  puts it quite succinctly::  "That's not a free market, that's a game"  For the interview see this site.