it has a lot to do with the regulations set down in response to the Great Depression. The dismantling of those regulations lead to the Savings and Loan crisis, Enron, and to the subprime crisis.
Yes, regulation can be good at times. It is possible to point to specific regulations that have done very clear and identifiable good.
Just a point on Enron though:
Between 1994 and 1999, the US Federal Reserve doubled the supply of money available. This, of course, means that eventually the value of US money will someday fall by half. Before that happens, however, all prices have to adjust, by the new money passing through many hands. The first hands will benefit greatly, because prices will still be lower than they should be [they haven't adjusted yet]. This is what caused the big stock market boom in the late 90s. But because prices are now wildly out of whack, companies have no mechanism with which to make rational investment decisions. Thus, inevitably, corporations like Enron spend way too much on the wrong capital at the wrong time; eventually this catches up with everyone, and a recession occurs.
