Ronald Reagan once admonished his followers to "get the government off our backs" and to claim that "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." Since then "regulations" have become a dirty word for (mostly) Republicans and they will stop at nothing to disband what they call the "regulatory state".
Lake Erie used to catch on fire before the government regulated what factories could dump into the lake, the air in Los Angeles used to be so foul, many people with lung issues weren't able to go outside for days at a time until the government regulated emissions, the Bald Eagle, our national symbol, almost became extinct in the early 60's from DDT until the government banned the compound, people died at alarming rates in car crashes until the government demanded that auto makers install seat belts, and the list goes on and on and on. And how many lives have stop lights saved? Yes, many Libertarians want them taken away.
In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008, Congress enacted a law called the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which was designed to ensure that banks would remain solvent during the normal ups and downs of economic activity. A few years later, politicians began to hear from bankers (who kept them in office by writing them checks) that this law was crimping the style of their banks. That shouting led directly to the weakening of the act under the Trump Administration.
Then what happened? Why of course, Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and Credit Suisse all tanked as a result, and this may just be the beginning.
In "Where Have All the Flowers Gone", one of the anthems of the ages, Pete Seeger wrote, "When will they ever learn. When will we ever learn."
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