| I'd like to point out an apparent oddity - that I, as a free market libertarian, agree with you that rolling back recent banking regulations is likely to lead to greater levels of exploitation of the populous by the banking/financial elite. This does not negate the free market idea, rather we are just looking at a small detail in a larger picture. Without context things can be confusing. The larger picture is that the banking system is not a free market entity. It was designed to prevent bank runs on insolvent banks - so that banks could practice currency inflation without, effectively, being called on it by other banks. (long story on inflation - most economists of course argue that it does not hurt the populous - some dissent...) So anyway, the initial extra-market act - setting up the banking system, was designed to aid the banking elite in expropriating the wealth of the populous via systematic currency inflation - of course the stated aim was to "stabilize the banking system" and that is also true - prevent bank runs on insolvent banks so they can inflate more$$. That stability, plus lots of greed, gave smart financial thinkers freedom to come up with yet more ways to exploit the system for their own benefit. Speculation in one kind of asset or another, etc etc. Hence people decided the system "needed to be regulated" -- this new round of regulation needed to essentially quell the disturbances made possible by the first round - (the laws passed which created the banking system in the first place, here renamed as "the first round of regulation") So sure - if we are going to have an artificial banking system propped up by law in the first place, it is only natural that it will require ever more regulation to keep it upright. After all, it is no longer "of the ecosystem" but "on top of it" - not subject to the full guidance of market forces. Free market people who want to roll back recent, stabilizing, regulations, but support the banking system in general may not, in some cases, understand what they are asking for. |