The recent wildfires in Australia killed over 200 people, and destroyed homes and other property. At least one of the fires was started by a suspected arsonist. However, the fires are an annual natural occurrence that is a part of life in Australia, as it is in California and other parts of the world.

A friend who works in the financial sector told me about an analogy he heard relating forest fires to the global economic recession and government intervention. Before man appeared, fires would burn down forests. This was part of a natural cycle that allowed the ground to replenish itself and help the forest grow anew. After man's appearance, nature has burned forests down and men sometimes burn farmland for the same reasons. The same should occur to companies in trouble: Let them burn. Let them burn to ashes.

These days, governments, especially the United States, are playing firefighter. Banks have been on the edge of failing only to be propped up by the government or some government-sponsored sale to a stronger financial institution. Trillions of dollars are being thrown at these banks that made poor decisions, mistakes, blunders, which prudent business administration would have prevented.

Add to that the billions wanted by General Motors and Chrysler, among other firms in the non-financial sectors, and the U.S. government seems intent on saving those that should not be saved.

Curiously, Lehman Brothers was allowed to fail, but if the public and investors worldwide are to believe that the markets are a ﾒnatural" cycle in tune with the world in which we live, the best thing would be for every single failed company to actually fail. What value or public service does GM give that Toyota does not to American workers and consumers? Why should Americans have their taxes support Citigroup when some of them do their banking at healthier rival JPMorgan Chase?

Charles Darwin, who was born 200 years ago Feb. 12, put forth the idea of natural selection. Natural selection dictates that traits that help survival continue to be passed on to future generations and those without are doomed to extinction.

If American Insurance Group were allowed to fail, a stronger, more suitable insurance company would take its place and consumers would be better for it. If Chrysler collapsed, Honda could take its place and America would be cleaner for it. The same is true for the Royal Bank of Scotland, which expanded too quickly without a strong base and is owned by the United Kingdom after all its self-created troubles.

The idea of 100 percent laissez-faire capitalism has never come to pass because governments feel the need to play god, as long as their friends in those firms are helped. By letting Lehman die but helping others the U.S. government is running a command economy, what communist nations are known for. Nationalization in Japan has saved Resona Bank without helping it or its customers; it is a minnow compared to Mitsubishi-UFJ or Mizuho banks. These maneuvers cause a crisis of confidence for investors and the public, unsure about the motives behind any government action.

Regulation in a general sense is needed and in place but it has so far only been a false stamp of approval, allowing fraudsters to find the loopholes and thrive. More regulation just means more hoops to jump through while not improving the economy or creating jobs.

As in the Australia wildfires, some innocent people will be caught in the chaos when a company fails. Yet it's worth remembering that a failed company cannot pay out million-dollar bonuses to executive dunces or spend bailout funds — our hard-earned money that should be given back to us to spend as we please — on vacations to Las Vegas or executive jets. And it's worth noting that few people shed tears when a company goes under.

E-mail: yung@ml.japantimes.co.jp