The big question is: Would YOU put your wealth and life savings in an investment environment that isn't regulated by the SEC? All of it not just a portion that

The big question is: Would YOU put your wealth and life savings in an investment environment that isn't regulated by the SEC? All of it not just a portion that is risky? Everyone's retirement and wealth depends on a trustworthy market and securities. Why do you think people put money in the market today as opposed to holding cash during the Great Depression due to lack of trust in the markets and banks? Was the Great Recession not another warning that even robust banks might go too far with leveraged assets and thus investments would be even more sketchy? I think the SEC is needed more than ever today. However some financial regulations like SOX were a knee-jerk reaction that caused some issues, iteration and refinement is necessary. ICOs and cryptocurrency I invest in pretty heavily but I wouldn't trust my life savings there yet. It is more like cash/gold today that can be lost. SEC coming out and shutting down shady ICOs is a GOOD THING (tm). I attribute the fast turn around of the Great Depression largely to the SEC and market regulations that instilled trust. It was probably even a better reaction than the TARP after the Great Recession as that was a longer drawn out bounce back and still might not even be fully back. Trust was gone for quite a while and it may have even led to cryptocurrencies out of it (Bitcoin 2008/2009). The FDA has been bought and is regulatory capture in many ways but they still provide more good than bad at the current situation. I generally agree that the information age makes people more aware but there still should at least be oversight and regulation on areas where things get sketchy. If anything it will make the agencies better or they will evolve, they won't go away. Some agencies like the DEA have too much enforcement/regulation power and over time these will be ground down. But even the money in Wall Street still hasn't done that to the SEC because it is a great institution and was setup well, and all Americans have benefitted from it.