Letters to the Editor
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Free-Market Zombies
Part of what's so laughable about Anonymous's "let them eat bankruptcy" attitude is that the smart money guys recognize the threat posed to markets (growth, profit, etc.) by true laissez faire policies. If people can't trust loan brokers and lenders to advise them wisely, they'll stop going to loan brokers, they'll stop borrowing, and the whole credit market will contract. The real estate industry recognized this a long time ago and accepted regulation for that very reason -- if you can't trust a realtor not to rip you off, why would you use one? And if you can't trust anybody to help you through a complex transaction like a real estate purchase, maybe you'll find something else to do with your money.
Deregulation is good for one thing, and one thing only: It provides a one-time-only opportunity for the sharks and crooks to jump in, make an enormous killing, and then try to fade into the woodwork as all hell breaks loose. (Can you say "Enron?") The very notion that a society as complex as ours can operate smoothly, or at all, without regulation is preposterous. But an awful lot of people seem to have drunk that Kool-Aid.