Oct. 7--R.I.P., free markets (1776-2008).

I am exaggerating, a little, for dramatic purposes. Actually, my sense is that the free market hasn't been truly free for more than a century, and, on balance, we're marginally better off for it.

But the discussion is well worth having. Indeed, these days it's essential.

We are witnessing the latest multigenerational swing in a never-ending battle for primacy between unfettered market forces and government intervention in the marketplace.

At its very core, it's about who runs the joint.

Just in case you haven't noticed, the momentum now is swinging rather dramatically toward government intervention in the economy. And some of the most market-oriented folks in our economy have no one to blame but themselves for the money-chasing excesses that led to this crossroads.

To be sure, the drama surrounding a massive $700 billion financial system bailout that Congress reluctantly approved last week offered plenty of supporting evidence for those of us who are sick of the venal pandering of our two major political parties this election season.

This angry moderate has never been more disappointed by our elected leaders than when the House initially rejected the bailout plan early last week.

My revulsion for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's blatantly partisan floor speech at a moment when she most needed the help of the rival party was eclipsed only by my disgust for the nihilism of many House Republicans and some House Democrats who appeared to be more concerned about their own re-election than the fate of the world economy.

In the end, we barely got an imperfect piece of legislation that just might stave off an economic calamity for the history books. We won't know for sure how well it works for months, if not years. But I suspect it will be better than the alternative of doing nothing, which at times last week was a gut-wrenchingly real possibility.

We're getting the lesser legislative evil, folks. Live with it. We can focus later on sending some scoundrels to jail.

Recent events in Washington and on Wall Street have me rummaging through my bookshelves in search of insight into how to process the ongoing credit crisis rooted in the recent mania for exotic home mortgages, and securities backed by those mortgages.

Three well-worn titles have passed through my hands in recent days.

The first, of course, is the first.