Unregulated market is the problem

Someone should tell George Will that the greed most people are concerned about has nothing to do with the price of Ohio State football tickets. It has to do with the fact that many Americans have seen the value of their life savings vaporized because they invested in the 401(k) and IRA plans recommended to them as the sure path to financial security. George Will's proposition that "greed generates its own punishment" works perversely in this relevant context, as the punishment generated is inflicted mostly on the innocent and least sophisticated investors in the free, unregulated markets Will promotes. If they put the Bernie Madoffs and Ken Lays of our business and financial markets in jail for a thousand years - or hang them by their toes for the rest of eternity - is of no use to the average citizen whose retirement has been postponed or made entirely impossible by the machinations that have been facilitated by unregulated markets.

Alfred Y. Kirkland Jr.

Elgin