Whenever I read about some new corporate skulduggery and I am outraged, I always have to remind myself that the same type of people — or probably worse — also rise to power in the world of politics. Therefore, we have a choice: do we want these people in public office, with virtually unbridled power, or do we want them in the corporate world? In reality, we want them nowhere, but far better that they are in the latter place.

Churchill famously said “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried”. Free markets should be judged on the same standard, instead of assuming that every market misdeed justifies a government response.