----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- Wilson, somewhere, has exactly this story -- that the original expression was "laissez nous faire" -- but the point was NOT to eliminate government, it was a request to Colbert to stop activist intervention. That is, set the rules and enforce them, don't constantly intervene. Any businessman understands the importance of property and contract law, and that markets are social institutions, so, as I recall, Wilson was emphasizing that the term did not carry the meaning so often given to it today--the notion of an unregulated economy (e.g. Iraq under American "control" as a recent cartoon suggested) -- but rather a more subtle and sophisticated understanding of the interaction between civil authority and markets. Fred Carstensen Economics ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]