There is nothing more irritating then reading a column in a major national newspaper in which the author has that light bulb moment the rest of us experienced decades ago. You know, the one where he/she discovers that Republicans have no principles other than the Law Of Maximum Short Term Gain. The corollary to it is that those same fraudulent "free market" profiteers inevitably turn to government to assume the destructive debt they incur in the chase of imaginary money - derivatives, shitty loans, outright theft.
It is revolting in the extreme, but typical. I call your attention to the Enron-Arthur Andersen criminalities of the late 1990's early 2000's. Cast back a little farther and you run into the wall of the S&L rip off of the early 1980's.
But remember kids, regulation is evil and the government is the enemy. Except when it isn't.
EJ Dionne, this is your wake up call.