[quote=@The Nexerus]
<Snipped quote by Vilageidiotx>

Recessions are a natural part of the business cycle that have the benefit of 'cutting waste', i.e. removing inefficiency. Their severity, how much they impact the average Joe, is determined by exactly how much waste there is to be cut. If only a few enterprises have become inefficient, only a few enterprises will be cut. If the state has intervened (through bailouts) to allow entire industries that have become inefficient to artificially stay afloat, the recession hits harder, because more enterprises are inefficient. This means that subsequent bailouts become more and more costly over time, because the enterprises they're sustaining are becoming less and less efficient. This also has the trend of encouraging more enterprises to become inefficient, or rather, discouraging the opposite. Why minimize risk when the government will just step in and save your ass if anything bad happens? It's a feedback loop, one that makes inequality worse and worse over time, makes recessions hit harder and harder every time, and makes the economy increasingly inefficient.

The government doesn't necessarily need to entirely remove itself from the economy. Just stop legalizing fraud in the finance sector and stop bailing out businesses that really [i]should[/i] fail, and everything will be so much better off in the long run.
[/quote]

Ah, right. When it comes to that sort of thing, I completely agree.