And since Paul has correctly called every part of this crisis and talked about it for years before it unfolded, I would say he knows more about economics than all the charlatans and economic nitwits who led us down this path.

I actively support certain forms of minimal (ground rules) regulation (to do with policing criminal behavior, preventing bank consolidation – since the rules change when institutions become big, and to prevent gaming of the system).

I am also on record supporting very heavy sanctions for professional misconduct.

However, a lot of the problem we have here is fundamentally due to one thing – cheapening of money beyond its market rate to make consumption, debt and the financial industry take up a gargantuan proportion of the economy at the expense of correct market allocation of resources. That accounts for the huge boost to speculative activity, huge compensations and shortsighted investment behavior …..and then human greed and corruption took over. …not just on Wall Street…on Main Street too – where people trade in the short term, flip houses, think nothing of defaulting on student loans and car loans…

Didn’t hear any of them complaining about Wall Street when their portfolios were being artificially pumped up and the house values were tripling. Even now, I hear nothing about the people who really got stiffed – people with savings, who never got a fair market rate because of the manipulation of the interest rate, while the banks were gambling with their money and taking the profits.

When the market tried to correct in 2000 and then again since 2004 and in 2004, the Federal reserve propped it up again…Don’t blame free markets when what we have here is a managed economy, crony capitalism, corporatism…….anything but free markets.

Even AIG’s book cooking was all done to get around tax rules and operate in tax havens. Trying to conceal profits and reassure shareholders of their viability, they ended up doing fraudulent transactions.

Then there’s the baptists and bootleggers problem….
It’s much more complicated than simply “excessive deregulation.”
Normal market downturns clear away excess. Keep trying to postpone the normal correction and induce an artificial boom and you get a problem.
http://mindbodypolitic.com/?p=836

Your hero Ron Paul, is a champion for completely unregulated banks
and financial markest which got us in this mess. Unregulated financial
houses will get so powerful and influential that they will control the
government and Congress and the courts which is happening right now.

Yes – I corrected that in my final version. Apparently this one got published instead.
My fault.
Lila