Snow Job – President Bush appoints yet another phony businessman, this time as treasury secretary, by Daniel Gross. I have a lot of respect for my friends who are true believers in the free market. I’ll believe in free markets, too, just as soon as somebody shows me one. Most fat cat Republicans are believers in the free market only when they can’t reduce the freedom of the market to favor themselves. As I’ve said here many times before, businesses don’t want to compete, they want to make money. Competition demands that you be smart and rigorous, and forces you to lower your prices or raise your quality, both of which can cut into profits. It’s a hell of a lot easier to go to the government trough to get money legislated your way, or to get bills passed to smack down your competitors. At the same time, this ruling class of corporate board members and Washington insiders is widely accepted by people who actually have to work for their money and expect or believe that winners in our economy will be chosen based on merit.