So, we lowered taxes, reduced regulation, allowed companies to do virtually anything they wanted. Brought back the good ol' days like Reagan did.
What a load of shit.
The blame for the current disastrous financial situation sits squarely on Alan Greenspan and George W. Bush. There is a damned good reason that democrats are better for the economy. They actually create a free-market environment by enforcing anti-trust legislation. Republicans let any company who wants to merge do so. This creates the duopolies we currently have in gas and telecom. And they deregulate everything, while not removing the government's obligation to bail them out.
Greenspan virtually ushered in the sub-prime situation. He "deregulated" the lending market by having the Federal Reserve dump tons of money into the market, making it the national policy to make any loan they could. No rules were imposed at all, until this year, about what obligations these companies had for this government-born ability. There was always a tacit assumption that major institutions would not be allowed to fail. So here we are.
This is not laissez faire. This is much closer to communism. The government helps the businesses out, and doesn't make them responsible. It's shameful, it's anti-capitalist, and it's driving us into a hole we will not easily get out of.