[ERD50]

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Originally Posted by chinaco This is why strict regulation is needed. Otherwise we will continue to be screwed by the hucksters. People can scream about big government all they want... and it is certainly imperfect. But who else will protect us from the these situations? Some people get on their high horse and pontificate about free markets and "let the market handle it"... but the fact is that the securites markets, credit markets, the economy and our savings are all interlinked. And there are a bunch of clever people that take advantage of us. The field is not level! We are getting scr3wed.

Chinaco, this is a total straw-man argument.

First, just because I believe that govt is too involved, and involved in the wrong ways, does not mean that I am in favor of a "wild west" scenario. There *are* degrees to this thing, and if *that* is your argument against a more free market, it is flawed and weak, weak, weak.

I'm tired of having the the "if you believe in less govt, you must believe in NO govt" words put in my mouth.

And, we were screwed by the people that made the regulations.

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Well... apparently things have to be ruined every 75 to 100 years to remind our politician that people and their behaviors do not change. If you let people have the opportunity to take huge risks... they will (at everyone elses expense).

Exactly, and it was the govt that helped people take big risks. So how do we rely on them to "protect us" - see samclem's post above for the background.

Maybe later, if I have time, I may start a thread along the lines of "How should the govt regulate markets?" That would be in a positive, what should we do, constructive, maybe educational mode, rather than this mode of blaming a favorite target of whoever is posting.

-ERD50