". . . you mean put BACK on them, dontcha? There were such controls pre-Reagan & his de-regulation worshipping neo-con successors."

Exactly so, Greg. I should have made that clear (for those who don't know). The regulations are there. Most of them were instituted in the Roosevelt administration in an effort to combat the abuses that led to the Great Depression. The Republicans and other conservatives have been trying to get rid of them ever since. Along comes Reagan, who essentially nullified them by either ignoring them entirely or by appointing people to the regulatory agencies who were from the various entities being regulated. Such as people from the pharmaceutical companies appointed to the Food and Drug Administration or stock market flaks on the Securities and Exchange Commission.

I believe this is referred to as "putting the foxes in charge of the chicken coop." Look where it got us!

Capitalism works fairly well when it is duly and objectively regulated. If that is Socialism, then so be it! Without that regulation, it becomes an Aristocracy of Greed.

Don Firth