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"so you mean the government has a responsibility not to let people and companies make stupid, unwise, or other bad decisions?"
YES. WHen those stupid decisions can melt down the financial system for the REST of us then it isnt just a personal decision. I sure wish the government had prevented all those idiots from being so stupid because we the taxpayers are going to be stuck with the cost, or at least a large part of it.
Its fine and dandy to pretend that individual decisions only have consequences for the individuals so we should just leave them alone. Except that it isnt always true. This is one of the cases where you would have to live in a cave not to be able to see that all those stupid decisions added up to big problems for the rest of us.
The problem going forward will be the reflex reaction of some to simply go back to the 1930 style regulations that were repealed in the past 10-15 years. That would be dumb since we arent in the 1930's. But that we need some more intelligent regulation is very clear. Just to take one example, we have an insurance company (AIG) whose failure has ramifications for the whole world's economy and which you and I will be paying for for a long time. The oversight on that insurance company was being done by some guy in Albany NY who clearly wasnt up to his job. We need to fix that without cramping their business so much it goes overseas. That means we need intelligent suggestions both parties can sign on to.
I suggest giving the job to Paul Volcker and former secretary Rubin. One is Rep and one is a Dem and they are both very smart about stuff like this.
We sure as hell dont want to simply leave it to the idiot politicians.
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