Originally Posted by
bbtp
ok - why shouldn't I be able to loan money to a guy so that he can buy oil futures, sex toys, online degrees, or an over-priced abode? why is it any of Congress's business?
this is America - supposedly a free country. passing laws prohibiting trade agreements which two parties enter into voluntarily for mutual benefits is flat out UN-American. if someone wants to loan the $$$ (at his own risk!) to someone else to speculate in oil futures, so be it. if they're wrong, they'll both get what's coming to them... in the long run, they don't injure anyone else - they just ensure the markets remain liquid.
Because the taxpayers foot the bill when the boom bust. When the Fed pumps liquidity into the market, hundreds of billions of dollars, or say underwrites Bear Stearns for $30 billion and takes over the risk, WE PAY for the market excesses. Who paid for Enron, World Com, Savings & Loan Bailout? The answer; the working class and taxpayers.