Imagine that a government summons the heads of two of the biggest corporations to its treasury headquarters in order to deliver an ultimatum – either they agree to a state takeover or have one forced upon them.

Was this Russia in 1917? No – it took place in the US last week when US treasury secretary Henry Paulson took over the country’s two mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Paulson was widely reported to have previously opposed any state takeover. His hand was forced when banks in Europe, China and elsewhere that had poured funds into the two institution’s bonds threatened to pull the plug on their investments.

Our alternative to market madness
Last week the Financial Times claimed that Socialist Worker had no answer to the economic crisis caused by capitalism. Chris Harman sets the record straight

The growing economic crisis in the US is causing even the most fervent supporters of capitalism to have their doubts in the neoliberal ideology they have used to justify the system for the past 30 years.

“I no longer believe in the market’s self-healing power,” said Josef Ackermann, chief executive of Deutsche Bank, the world’s ninth biggest bank, in a speech in Frankfurt two weeks ago.