President Bush turned up on Wall Street, last week, and gave his standard sheriff talk about standing up for law and order and putting miscreants in jail. Tough speech, but very vague on details. And the reference to a "few bad apples" brought on howls of laughter in certain quarters - - given the evidence on the widespread incidence of corruption. Even schoolboys now recognise that there are systemic problems that have to be addressed by regulatory measures.
Proponents of competitive markets obviously dislike more laws and regulations, but have to admit that some reform is necessary for the sake of preserving the long-run viability of the system. Unregulated capitalism has a strong tendency to self-destruct, and it is occasionally necessary to tweak and optimise existing regulations. Adam Smith got it just right. In the "Wealth of Nations" he said that greed is OK, and in the "Theory of Moral Sentiments" he said that unrestricted greed leads to the breakdown of civil
