Another theorem: two years after the failure of Lehman Brothers, literally anything is possible. In financial markets, the boundaries of possibility had previously been circumscribed by a limited number of core beliefs or assumptions: that debt rated "investment grade? was sound; that credit ratings agencies were broadly competent and, as state-sanctioned quasi-monopolies, acted objectively on behalf of the public good; that developed world government debt was essentially riskless; that investment businesses that became insolvent could be wound down in an orderly manner; that regulation of the financial sector existed; that banks operated on a broadly level playing field with the rest of the economy; that financial markets were largely benign structures that operated efficiently; that bankers were motivated by considerations other than greed and self-preservation. In shorter form, that free market capitalism worked.

David Fuller's view Without sensible and effective regulation, free market capitalism or anything else will end up like "Lord of the Flies".