Shuffle - Peter J. Wallison Peter J. Wallison Arthur F. Burns Fellow in Financial Policy Studies

Your editorial "Big Pharma Loves Harry Reid" (May 1) misses the real significance of the TV ad you describe. The most disturbing element of both Obama Care and the financial regulatory legislation now before the Senate is that they set up, in different ways, a partnership between the government and the largest companies in a particular industry.

In ObamaCare, the private insurers and pharmaceutical manufacturers have become, through regulation, both a tool of the government and perennial seekers of both more government support and more government leniency--hence the Nevada ad; while in the financial legislation the largest nonbank financial institutions will be both protected by the government and controlled through Federal Reserve regulation and the threat of a break-up.

It's vital to recognize the pattern: The Obama administration is gradually changing the nature of our economy and society by putting government at the center.

Peter J. Wallison is the Arthur F. Burns Fellow in Financial Policy Studies.