See, this is the libertarian problem. You can say they'd be better off if the government did nothing but that's a theory, pure idealism. It's never happened in history. There are a couple of implications from that:
It might be even worse than govt intervention. We can only guess.
It doesn't really matter whether it would be better or worse - and this is the more important point - because there is no sequence of events in which the government would not intervene, in the real world.
Are you aware that Japan permanently crippled their economy with uncontrolled speculation?
The primary reason Japan fucked themselves over is government debt, aka, government interference.
The crash happened first. The debt is a consequence.
And they'd have been better off with a crash if the government didn't intervene.
See, this is the libertarian problem. You can say they'd be better off if the government did nothing but that's a theory, pure idealism. It's never happened in history. There are a couple of implications from that:
It might be even worse than govt intervention. We can only guess.
It doesn't really matter whether it would be better or worse - and this is the more important point - because there is no sequence of events in which the government would not intervene, in the real world.