Vice President Cheney seems to come from the Herbert Hoover school of economic manangement.  

"The fact is, the markets work, and they are working," said Cheney in an interview in his White House office. "And people - some of the big companies obviously - have taken risks. Risk means risk. And there's an upside as well as a downside in some of the choices they've made.

We have to be careful not to have this set of developments lead us to significantly expand the role of government in ways that may do damage long-term for the economy."

The same goes for Democratic efforts to curb the predatory lending practices that left naive homeowners in trouble, says Cheney: "We don't want to interfere with the basic, fundamental working of the markets."

Which raises the question I think, why we have any regulation at all.  After all, in Cheney's conception, it would simply constitute "intereference in the fundamental workings of the markets."  Risk means risk after all.  If you lose your house because your teaser rate comes to an end and you can't afford to make payments anymore, you should keep in mind that "there is an upside as well as a downside," right?  Let the markets operate freely and who cares about the pesky social consequences? Boom and bust, baby!  Viva la laissez faire! Viva Dick!