The nations that taught us that state meddling in economic matters was blasphemy are now nationalising banks, bailing out brigands, and pouring in funds to stop factories from closing down. The bailout of Bear Stearns by the U.S. Federal Reserve was worth $30 billion. That is roughly twice the "loan waiver' given to millions of Indian farmers. The latter move has been scorched by the ideologues of the free market and neo-liberalism as "fiscal insanity' or "irreversible damage.' The media