Politics man, Politics

Personally, I think the more the economy is deregulated the more trust you are putting in humans to use their money to support those products and services which benefit everyone.

Unfortunately humans are flawed so a free market doesn't work unless the end game is the extinction of the human race or at the least, long periods of desperation for a majority of the population. Humans are selfish and shortsighted and this latest debacle of the economy is a glaring example.

Conservatives argue for deregulation. But.... what happens when a companies best interest is not in the best interest of the society? In a 100% free market we would probably get the most efficient and cheapest products and services but at the expense of the environment going down the shitter along with our health and the people at the bottom would have very little opportunity to rise to the top.

I think the level of regulation for a large part depends on the particular market. For example, how cool would it be if they deregulated the amount of cable TV companies there were and more companies could rent the cable lines. That would be great. This way companies like Comcast might actually have some competition and be forced to have more efficient customer service.

But in an industry like real estate finance, obviously there needs to be more regulation/standards. Houses are expensive, most people can not afford houses no matter what you do. If you are a teacher and pulling in $50,000 a year you can not afford a house in many markets. This sucks because we need more teachers, but it is the reality of the market. Trying to lower the standards through which people can attain mortgages so people who can't afford houses can now afford them in the very short term is asinine selfish thinking that needed to be regulated from the outset. This is an example of a market place that needed a lot more regulation because of the selfish short term profit driven arrogant ways of the powerful banking/mortgage companies.

As a species, humans are not evolved enough to trust our fate and stability to institutions that are bottom line driven, it just doesn't work.

Hopefully in 1,000 years humans will evolve and develop an intuitive sense that we are all in this together which will guide our behavior and thinking. Until then, we need serious checks and balances or selfish motivations will continually set us back and keep us running in place as a species. New technology and increased efficiency doesn't necessarily translate into growth as a species. If we stay on the path we are going, we won't even have the chance to evolve! And this is why I drink :)