quote:I think the fundamental difference in our philosophy is that you as a lebertarian believes that the unregulated free market will cure itself. To believe that you must put your faith in human nature. In 1999, Phil Gramm got a piece of legislation passed that deregulated wall street and took the regulation of the past away. This deregulation lead us to a stock market collapse and most of the economic prblems we face now. Human nature, left without a mechanism of control, will always devolve to evil and tyranny.
I could go on for a while about this, but for now I will keep it basic. You basically identified my beliefs correctly. I don't, however, "put my faith in human nature." I think people are self interested and act accordingly, but that can only go so far before it stops being in the self interest of others to voluntarily associate/do business with you. Additionally, the unregulated free market is literally that - unregulated. The '99 "deregulations" weren't real degregulation. They removed some barriers that allowed Wall Street to make more money, but didn't remove the safety net that allows them to gamble with government support. That type of excessive risk would never exist in an unregulated free market. Correction, it might exist, but not on a grand scale. No one would go for it if the government wasn't standing behind them with bags full of printed money.
Simply put, the problem I have with your line of thought is that you still want an all powerful government that can force the bad guys to be nice. When you concentrate that kind of power, the bad guys just figure out of way to get on the inside.