(5 of 5)
Finally, we must recognize that markets are messy--frequently overshooting or undershooting desired targets--and that it is ordinary working people, not investors, bankers and business leaders, who suffer most when they do. When that happens, as may be the case in the final years of this century, it is worth remembering that there is a role for government in protecting society's weakest members from the markets' excesses while encouraging the animal spirits that free markets unleash. Getting that balance right will be a challenge for business and government in the century ahead.
Norman Pearlstine is the editor-in-chief of Time Inc. and former managing editor of the Wall Street Journal