Really great post Jennie and I agree with every word!
The only meddling the government should have in the free market is regulation and that needs to be implemented and administrated by wise heads.
Regulation is like the umpire on the footy field. There are rules and restrictions on the oval. The umpire makes sure they are adhered to. However if a team consistently performs terrible on the field, players, coaches and management have to sharpen up to survive. Its not the umpire's role to intervene into matters that are causing such a bad performance or to save the team.
The consequences of letting the free market deal with the financial crisis on its own would have been serious no doubt. However all this additional debt pumped into the system has to be dealt with as well.
According to the likes of Faber, Rogers and Schiff government intervention only just delayed the inevitable, but round 2 will be so much worse. When will round 2 unfold?
