Forget the markets: massive government failure is behind world financial chaos. The mortgage and financial crisis now sweeping the world is the product of a colossal build-up of unintended consequences brought on by government policy and regulation. Other regulatory rules accelerated the meltdown, including post-Enron mark-to-market accounting rules and international bank capital standards that were brought in without adequate thought or preparation. What we are witnessing today, as governments pile on massive new rounds of intervention, is a growing pyramid of government failures. It will take more than James Bond to break the pyramid.