In the late 18th century the liberals embraced the doctrine of laissez faire.

[limpyhobbler]

6. Ok I'm no expert but

I think that classical liberal economics envisions that laissez-faire commerce is good for everybody, including the poor. I think we're talking probably Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, and others in that era.

And we had a chance to see their theories play out to see how accurate they were, as the US and British economies were largely unregulated in the 1800s. The result was the extreme inequality, growth of industrial monopolies, abuse of workers, and all that stuff.

The sad thing is that the theories taught in economics classes in US schools is still based largely on those same principles that have been largely proven wrong by history.