He's saying that a free market is OK, except when it doesn't work. Then it's time to abandon it and embrace socialism for a short time until the problem is fixed then you return to the free market.
That raises the obvious question. If socialism is the solution to the ills of the free market, why not abandon the free market permanently? Why return to something defective?
You said — “That raises the obvious question. If socialism is the solution to the ills of the free market, why not abandon the free market permanently? Why return to something defective?”
Extreme measures are taken many times by people (even in their own lives) which they do not want to “live by” everyday of their lives. But, people do some things, because (as they say), “I have to do this...”
That should be obvious to anyone, unless one has never encountered a personal situation in which they did some things (took extra measures) that they *quit doing* after they solved the problem.
The same type of thing applies on a national level. A clear example of this, in another area of national policy is “war”. We don’t want to live under “war” all the time, but we do so, only as necessary. And then, most people, as soon as it is possible to get out of this condition of war (like “winning” :-)...), they will do so and return back to the normal peacetime state.
I don’t know why this sort of principle is hard for some people to understand.