Religion=government=markets?

An interesting excerpt from MR:

Until more people come to a more realistic, fact-based understanding of the government and the economy, little hope exists of tearing them away from their quasi-religious attachment to a government they view with misplaced reverence and unrealistic hopes. Lacking a true religious faith yet craving one, many Americans have turned to the state as a substitute god, endowed with the divine omnipotence required to shower the public with something for nothing in every department – free health care, free retirement security, free protection from hazardous consumer products and workplace accidents, free protection from the Islamic maniacs the U.S. government stirs up with its misadventures in the Muslim world, and so forth. If you take the government to be Santa Claus, you naturally want every day to be Christmas; and the bigger the Santa, the bigger his sack of goodies.

For fun, let's substitute some words:

Until more people come to a more realistic, fact-based understanding of the market and the economy, little hope exists of tearing them away from their quasi-religious attachment to a market they view with misplaced reverence and unrealistic hopes. Lacking a true religious faith yet craving one, many Americans have turned to the market as a substitute god, endowed with the divine omnipotence required to shower the public with something for nothing in every department – efficient health care, efficient retirement security, efficient protection from hazardous consumer products and workplace accidents, efficient protection from the Islamic maniacs the U.S. market stirs up with its misadventures in the Muslim world using prediction markets, and so forth. If you take the market to be Santa Claus, you naturally want every day to be Christmas; and the bigger the Santa, the bigger his sack of goodies.