Reply #53: hmm..

[rapsody]

What corners are you talking about? The reason the companies don't care about the crash is because they already knew the government was going to bail them out from the very beginning. That's why it's not a free market. Businesses are going to continue to act irresponsibly if they know for a fact their mistakes aren't going to be punished.

That's how our whole economy is built, not just the banking industry. It's all built on illusions. I wouldn't disagree with you that we probably won't ever seen a completely free market, at least not in our lifetime. But the part about Ron Paul's vision being where the big fish eat the small ones, I disagree. I think that's the system we have right now. All the biggest businesses (too big to fail) have all the advantages due to government guarantees and being able to game the system. Those with the most political power make the most money. That's not a free market.

A 10 times bigger SEC? I shudder at the thought. Where's the money going to come from?

I like this discussion though.. civil and thought-provoking.