[Japo]

Tulac, you could say the same about any other school, economics isn't an experimental science, so it's not really science, and anyone can continue favouring any theory, and nobody can disprove it. I didn't intend to convince anybody, just to provide a new opinion.

The bank panics started after the National Banking Act ended the Free Banking Era of 1837-1862. Then came the Fed, the stock exchange and housing bubble of the 20s, the Depression, and so on.

I haven't seen any proof that miriads of individuals acting on their own can take the economy as if agreed in a direction, let alone towards ruin. That sounds like contrary to the second law of thermodynamics. Anyway as I said you can't prove or disprove, first of all there are of course eras with more economic freedom than others, but you won't find any era without regulations. You can tie what you think are causes and effects anyhow you find more reasonable.

Pollution is a separate issue. I'm certainly not against rule of law, and I won't say in which enviromental issues I think it applies because that's off topic.