WASHINGTON - Just as you must break a few eggs to make an omelet, President George W. Bush admitted on Monday that saving the free market system required taking non-free market action.

The MBA president has repeatedly said that the actions taken by his administration to shore up floundering financial firms would not have been the first choice for a free-market thinker like himself, but he had no choice in trying to save the U.S. economy.

On Monday, at a global health forum, there was no question that the president saw the irony in the U.S. government intervening in the private sector to prop up the financial system in the name of keeping free markets afloat.

Bush said he had not had much time to think about his post-president plans to set up a policy institute for freedom “since I’ve been interested in the free market system — by taking non-free market action to save the free market system.”

The comment made with wry humor was met with audience laughter.

He followed up with saying to baby boomers: “Retirement isn’t a golf course. Retirement, fulfilling retirement, is to use your time and talent.”

Click here for more Reuters political coverage.

- Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Reed (Bush gestures during global health forum)