"The idea that the market is always right is a crazy idea. Laissez-faire is over." - Inspired by Nicholas Sarkozy, President of France

It's a bit of a moot point for Sarkozy to say that, since laissez-faire government has been over in France for some time. What IS true, though, is that the era of laissez-faire on Wall Street is quite over. But after things fell apart in 1929 and 1987, new regulations were introduced and the US picked itself up by its bootstraps and got back to work. No reason to think we won't do the same this time.

The emperor has no clothes! Retracing our steps and finding out how we got here is important. Judging whether the market was right or not without acknowledging that the market is not and was not a, “hands off,” self guided process. Government has been actively involved in the guiding and manipulating process. Government has acted as the agent of business by making rules, breaking rules and ignoring rules along the way. The emperor has no clothes! Can we talk? Control or quiet manipulation got us into this mess and control, oversight and restrictions will get us out. Just like nature in the case of bringing a wild animal out of the wild. Maybe, nature uninterrupted will take care of its own but, when we bring that animal out of the wild (interrupt/control nature), we can’t just return it and turn our heads; we must control the re-entry to its natural state and then let it take care of its self. So, Laissez-faire is not over, it has been departed from over time and to return to it, we must carefully restore it to its natural course. Business, big business is still trying to maintain control. The same people that made their greatest profits are trying to reduce their losses by giving all responsibility to the middle class. The American public seems so swayed by government presentation that we ignore the shell game manipulator that blames the victim’s greed for the crime. At some point we need to face the naked truth, the emperor has no clothes! Vernon Martin, http://vernonmartincoaching.com/Home.aspx

The current colossal mess in the US financial markets attests to the fact that the Bush/Republican mantra of free market "benevolence" is flawed and has failed miserably. The country is in this mess because there has been too much focus on Iraq and not enough on important domestic issues, especially the economy.

We'll never be able to find out. There has been so much intervention for so long, it's impossible to know.

I partially agree with Mr.Sarkozy’s viewpoint. But the problem here is not the market in itself. The main problem of this financial crisis and forthcoming total collapse is that the worst criminals and terrorists on the face of this planet are the Federal Reserve and the big Wall St. bankers – JP Morgan Chase, Citicorp, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers. The Federal Reserve is not a government institution, it is a private corporation, incorporated in Delaware and it is illegal according to the US Constitution. the Federal Reserve is as Federal as FedEx, and has no Reserves. Who owns the Federal Reserve? Check out if you can find this information – is a closely guarded secret. The Federal Reserve does not report to anybody, not to the Congress, not to the President. It has been printing trillion of dollars out of thin air. No gold backing, no reserves, no nothing. Ron Paul is perfectly right on this. So, here we are, day by day awaiting the final total collapse of the US financial system And the total collapse of the dollar – which within a few days will be declared officially. By the way, who is Mr Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury? check out who he is – Mr Paulson is a former Executive of Goldman Sachs – enough said. The next steps of the crisis. One of the forthcoming days – could be tomorrow Sept. 30, could be anytime between tomorrow and October 10 - the US Treasury will declare that the United States is no longer able to service its debt, at 12:30 p.m. EDT. The world financial system would precipitate into caos. Stock Exchanges around the world would not open. The US Treasury would act to formally de-monetize the U.S. dollar and declare it worthless. At that point you can imagine what will happen and how the people in the US will react, with no money, no gas, no food. Dr.Steve Pieczenik is a former National Security Council Advisor during the Clinton, Carter, Ford, Reagan administrations. Dr. Pieczenik was the principal International Crisis Manager and Hostage Negotiator under Secretaries Kissinger and Vance. Dr. Pieczenik helped develop negotiation strategies for major U.S.- Soviet arms control summits under the Reagan administration. He is currently an advisor to the Department of Defense. Back in July 3, 2008, Dr.Steve Pieczenik warned of the forthcoming financial collapse of the US and said that it has been engineered and pre-programmed, that is - made on purpose -.

I'd like to think that this situation gives us the opportunity to review the mantra "the market will sort it all out" and encourage us all to participate in some heavy duty thinking about the sort of world we are living in and perpetuating for our children.