There has never ceased to be cooperation between the state and big business - the description given by the elder Galbraith in The New Industrial State is still current, with the necessary adaptations. In Europe this accommodation includes the unions (which is why Goldfarb says Merkel is not about to dismantle the German unions). But the state has abdicated the common good. First by inaction, and then when business broke its toys, by shoveling money into their maws.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma