Well why do you oppose regulation so much? I view it on equal grounds as making murder illegal. The utmost expression of freedom - in any field - is or can be undesirable due to the consequences.
It's the extremes again.
When allowed to, key word, allowed, markets truly do "self regulate." Dishonest companies can only "cook the books" for so long, in a free market eventually all ponzi schemes must come to an end. So many of the governments interventions, for example, the Federal Reserve, disrupt this natural process. The Federal Reserve was hailed as the solution to "break the wall-street banking trust," when in fact the legislation was covertly
authored by representatives of the big banks. (if this sounds like a conspiracy, it is. It is a conspiracy backed up by a plethora of sources and cross-references, including the representative's autobiographies) Why would people like J.P. Morgan desire such "regulation?" Because it is a government enforced cartel that protects banks from bank runs and by providing them with non-market powers, and allows banks to make monopolistic profits and prevent competition.
Other forms of regulations are actively lobbied for by huge companies that know they can afford to comply with them, but small start ups cannot, like sarbanes-oxley. The cost of complying prevents many companies from expanding, a.k.a. prevent competition.
It's not the government's job to make sure we are making good investments or whatever. The SEC has shown to be virtually criminally incompetent anyway.
Most government intrusion into the market either crowd out a potential private alternative that would be much more efficient, create unavoidable moral hazard, and rely of non-market powers that are often used to benefit one party at the expense of another.
Additionally, I am in favor of prosecuting corporate criminals. When companies infringe on others rights, they should be held accountable. That's on par with prosecuting murder, not setting emission standards for cars.
I don't advocate the "rule of nature." You have the right to do whatsoever you please until you infringe on someone else's rights. No one has the "freedom" to initiate force against others. It's called the non-aggression principle. If tobacco companies were taking people off the street and putting them in smoke-filled rooms, they'd be cause for government intervention.