It is not intervention which causes the boom/bust cycle. It is the greed of unbridled capitalists which create that cycle.

Take the housing and financial crisis as an example. Lack of regulation coupled with greed led to risky investments on an extremely massive scale. When too many of those risky loans came due, the crisis erupted.

The same thing is happening right now, with banks that literally deserve to fail due to risky investments being bailed out by the Federal Reserve, resulting in devaluation of the dollar.

Lack of regulation and violation of existing regulations cost society in numerous ways. What do you think would happen if industry had to fully assume the liabilities for consumers harmed, killed or permanently disabled by faulty products, including medications? If they had to pay for lifetime care and loss of income? How about if industry had to assume the full cost of the nation’s 1300+ Superfund sites being cleaned up? Because full accountability should be part of the “free market”. It’s not.

How much do you think gas and electricity would cost if all the subsidies were removed from oil, gas, coal and ethanol? Do you think the Clean Air Act is too burdensome? Go sit in your garage with your vehicle engine running for a few hours and get back to me on that one.