Free markets bought off regulators, wrote preferential deals, bought influence, drafted bad legislation, and otherwise scammed the system for all it was worth, and those people are still at it. There is plenty of blame to be placed at the government for all their complicity, but a market that runs on ponzi finance has plenty of cash to grease the wheels before the thing runs off the tracks. Free markets must have a real and enforced rule of law, and a meaningful regulatory apparatus or they will quickly become a free-for-all.