One of the root causes of the GFC was the short-term-profit-at-all-costs mentality of Banks, particularly US Banks. The toppling of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae et al. were what precipitated the round of guarantees given to banks worldwide to ensure that their banking systems didn't collapse. Governments reasoned that the interconnectedness of the modern worldwide banking systems meant that their banks were exposed. Hence Ireland's guarantee to its banks (and my country, Australia, did the same).

The subprime mortgage collapse was a situation that should not have been allowed to happen in a well regulated economy. Market regulations shuld have been in place to prevent banking institutions from operating with so many problematic debtors on their books. That they were allowed to do so (in amongst the rest of the problems with a deregulated financial system) was the object of the free market movement which puts profit in the short term ahead of long term viability and well ahead of societal benefit.

The public taking on the risks in this regard was a windfall for the financial system and the investors that back it and was still something that the free market movement had been wanting. Was the full costs of the cleanup of the Gulf oil spill borne by BP or by the public? Who profited more out of the Iraq War, Halliburton et al or the public? Who profits from the increased privatisation of every aspect of Western-style national governance, private investors or the public? When infrastructure has to be built in a "Public-Private Partnership" for Electricity generation/transmission or transport who bears the greater risk if it all just doesn't work, the "Private", or the "Public"? On and on, what we see is that free market means being able to excise oneself from responsibility . This is what free market advocates have been calling for since time immemorial; this is what "deregulation" means.

I had stupid amounts of freedom when I was a kid as well, with roughly the same basic rules (the only other two were "help each other for the common good" and "respect each other's rights and opinions"), and I believe that it was the best environment for me. I like to think that I've grown up to be a decent moral person. However, I don't believe that we can say that laws aren't a substitute for morals; laws exist because there are some basic rules that society expects people to follow, and unfortunately all people can't be expected to follow those basic rules.

So I'll compare myself with my sister. My sister spent most of her teenage life fucking herself up with whatever tobacco products, alcohol and drugs she could get her hands on. While she wasn't disrespectful, she flunked out of high school because she was basically a bludger and did no work. When people told her that she had to do some work (above what she wanted to do, ie, for the common good or her long-term good), she screamed and ranted and raved about her right to do whatever she wanted. In the abstract and long term, she broke all the rules by requiring the rest of the family to work harder to align themselves with the rules, but that didn't matter to her (or to my mother).

I believe strongly that, if our house had stricter rules (ie, curfews, no cigarettes/drugs/alcohol, etc.), then my sister would not have got away with the shit that she did. If you don't mind my saying so, I (and my other two brothers) were sensible enough to work within the rules, but my sister for whatever reason was not.

I think this is because people develop morals in the same way that they develop other characteristics (height, intelligence, etc.). We know that kids don't have the same moral sense as full grown adults, and we also know that not all adults develop to the same endpoint in respect to moral development (in the same way that not all adults are the same height or possessed of the same intelligence).

The guy to look to here is Kohlberg and his Stages of Moral Development. Unfortunately, some people only get so far in terms of their moral development as thinking "how can I do what I want and not be punished".

So, I have fewer problems with the idea of parents keeping tabs on their kids, so long as they're doing it properly (which is a whole different story.

So... Around half of all Americans are of below average intelligence?

*holds up a marshmallow on a stick*

G'day != Guten Tag.
How you goin, mate != Wie geht es Ihnen
No worries != mach dir keine sorgen

WTF mates?