With the economic crisis of 2007 I think this was exactly the case. The government let the markets run their course and then collapsed because they too were unregulated. The consequences led Obama and the government to have to intervene and save businesses and banks. Living in Detroit at the time, this hits close to home on how government can intervene in the economy and markets. I think this is the most extreme case of the government getting involved in the economy by donating billions of dollars to auto companies. Either these automakers will go bankrupt or they will be bailed out. In the end it actually saved a lot of jobs and helped the economy stabilize. I think Adam Smith realized this with his theory of classical liberalism versus modern liberalism. Modern liberalism basically gave rise to markets where classical liberalism was the birth of markets. I think that even with classical liberalism it is very easy to get stuck in old ideas that no longer work in today's society. I think both classical and modern liberalism is one of equality