Atrios is shocked at the absurdity Of CNBC:

The entire financial system is practically collapsing and they're lamenting the possibility of more regulation... People who prattle on about "the free market" are usually too stupid to have a clue how complicated and pervasive the "rules" had to be to to get a well-functioning modern market system: sophisticated concepts of contracts and enforcement, property rights, legal entities, proper accounting, bankruptcy, limited liability, etc... etc..., did not descend from the heavens but were, in fact, created.

So why do conservatives want to make all these crucial rules, regulations, and laws disappear? What would our financial system look like without them?

Initially, it would be pure anarchy. The world would devolve into a Hobbesian war of all against all. But that wouldn't last long; powerful warlords would quickly emerge, and then individuals would have to enslave themselves to one of those warlords to have a prayer of survival.

Is this what conservatives really want?

Perhaps some do, because they own lots of guns and think they will emerge on top in a world of anarchy.

But most of the bankers and brokers on TV are way too wimpy to survive anarchy. So what they really want is a government that (a) keeps wages as close to $0 as possible and (b) steals taxpayer money to bail corporations out of every crisis they create through their uncontrolled greed.

So the country's most powerful conservatives want Socialism for the Rich. Which raises the question: why on earth do we want conservatives to have any power at all?