http://baselinescenario.com/2009/03/26/what-the-imf-would-tell-the-united-states-if-it-could/ From 1945 until around 1980, the financial sector was one industry among many in the United States. Then something happened. People in finance started making more money, jobs in finance became more desirable, financial institutions became more influential, and the linkages between the financial sector and the political establishment became stronger. At the same time that our financial sector became more leveraged and more risky, it also became more powerful. The result was a confluence of interests between Wall Street and Washington - one more normally found behind the scenes of emerging market crises, the kind the IMF is called on to resolve. Simon and I tell this story - and the story of what happened next - in âThe Quiet Coup,â an article in the May issue of The Atlantic. (Many thanks to The Atlantic for putting the online copy up as early as they did.) The working title of the article was, âWhat the IMF Would Tell the United States, If It Could.â Enjoy. "The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States. One of the most alarming, says a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, is that the finance industry has effectively captured our governmentâa state of affairs that more typically describes emerging markets, and is at the center of many emerging-market crises. If the IMFâs staff could speak freely about the U.S., it would tell us what it tells all countries in this situation: recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform. And if we are to prevent a true depression, weâre running out of time.." Read the rest here: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200905/imf-advice