Greed (or more delicately) self interest is what drives markets. Most people want to earn more money, live in larger, more comfortable houses, etc. The counterbalance to greed is free market competition. I want a good job, but must compete with others who want the same job. I want to sell shoes, but must compete with other sellers of shoes.
The problem occurs when competition does not exist or is stifled by government. Look at cable television. Comcast, for example, has effectively a monopoly in many areas. If you are a Comcast customer, I don't need to explain how they can increase the price for basic cable at four times the rate of inflation and have a lower customer service rating than the U.S. Postal Service and the IRS.
The simple answer to most problems in a market economy is simply to let the economy work. Unlike at NASA... in a capitalist society failure is always an option. The way we (individuals and businesses) learn to behave better is to suffer the full, unmitigated consequences of our choices, good or bad. It does not help anything to teach poorly managed companies they can be "too big" to fail. It does not help anything to reward home buyers who made particularly bad decisions related to mortgages while punishing those (by raising taxes) on those who behaved more prudently. There is a saying in economics, "People respond to incentives, all else is commentary."
For a nice piece on the bailout, try
this.
Oh, and to Gene, the government really is responsible for the Great Depression. If you want to hear a thoughtful but very digestable piece, try this FRB
speech by Ben Bernanke on the auspicious event of Milton Friedman's 90th birthday. Contrary to Nixon, Gene, we are all not Keynesian's now.
