There's no such thing as a free search. But there are a group of professionals out there driving the price as low as possible, and they certainly earn my admiration.
This comprehensive list of the Fed's functions gives the lie to the notion that there has been "too little regulation" of financial markets. Anyone who makes such an argument is either ignorant of the truth or is lying.
"You libertarians are really nuts. … Why depend on the willy-nilly whims of some capitalist exploiter when the state is there to provide this wonderful service for free?"
Paul Krugman, e.g., in The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 (Norton, 2008) says "there will have to be an assertion of more government control — in effect, it will come closer to a full temporary nationalization of a significant part of the financial system."
If we are really sincere about not wanting to repeat the 1930s, the political classes should do nothing but cut taxes and free the labor market — but otherwise do nothing to "help" the problem.
The Clinton years are a case in point. Spending rose very little. Warfare was curbed relative to the past and present. Deficits fell. The public sector shrank.
A free society includes the freedom to be unconcerned, insensitive, or stingy. If the forced looting of the taxpayers for foreign-aid payments has always been wrong, then — cyclone or no cyclone — it is just as wrong now.
