Last week we examined the causes and consequences of the subprime crisis. If nothing else, it focused attention on the critical role U.S. capital markets play in our economy and personal lives. How important are our capital markets?

The answer is simple—every company, whether big or small, public or private, needs capital to run its business. And there's something more. Given the failure of politicians to modernize government entitlement programs, our nation must rely on strong private sector markets to help provide for the needs of 77 million retiring baby boomers.

So what can we do to create the world's most efficient, transparent, and attractive markets? First, we must modernize the regulatory structure that governs them. We need to consolidate overlapping and duplicate regulatory agencies, foster better coordination among regulators, and implement a regulatory culture that aggressively pursues bad actors, while providing fair and understandable oversight of all others.

Second, we must ensure the viability of the global system of accounting and auditing. Audit firms are required by law to be private partnerships. This makes them uniquely vulnerable to legal risk—and ultimately uninsurable. Today, all the top audit firms face multi-billion dollar lawsuits, any one of which could put them out of business. This exposes our entire capital market system to serious risk.

Third, we need to uphold the due process rights that are guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States. We are fighting abusive tactics by government prosecutors and agencies, such as pressure to waive attorney-client privilege or to penalize companies for paying attorney fees for employees.

Fourth, we must stop further misuse of the regulatory process by third party special interests. For example, union-controlled public pension funds are using proxy battles to achieve what they could not win at the bargaining table. We have a system where shareholders sue themselves and drive down their own stock prices, with huge fees paid out to the lawyers!

Fifth, we must educate all Americans about the fundamental importance of our capital markets and encourage their participation in them. The Chamber has long supported tax policies and savings vehicles that encourage citizens at all income levels to build wealth in the markets—and we will continue to do so.

The bottom line is if we put the regulators, politicians, bureaucrats, cops, lawyers, and bean counters in the driver's seat of American enterprise, we will pay a terrible price. That's what we have been doing to our capital markets for too long, and it must stop! America's capital markets have generated more wealth, opportunity, and financial security for more people than any system ever created. They are the powerful engine behind our nation's economic miracle. And we'd better not forget it.