Unregulated capitalism has a tendency to instability, wild swings and the occasional catastrophic collapse, which not only punishes the firms involved, but the entire economies they are superimposed on. The bubbles, Panics and Depressions of the 17-20th centuries bear ample historical witness to this. The funny thing about these fluctuations is that they appear to be internally self-generated instabilities, rarely caused by external factors. The periodic recessions we've experienced since the 40s are small change compared to some of the excursions we've experienced in the past.

We're long overdue for another, and whether we've just been lucky so far or whether it is a result of the regulatory structure we've erected is yet to be seen. Although it certainly can be argued that too much regulation, unwise regulation, or regulation for regulation's sake is not a good thing, the current trend to minimum or no regulation is disturbing to me. Didn't we try this before and it didn't work?