Why is it that when profits are high, certain giants of the free market want no government interference or regulation?

But when profits fall, and these companies find themselves in financial turmoil, it is then ok to turn to the government for billions of dollars in "assistance?"

Of course I don't ask these question to place blame on any particular party. I can't possibly understand the ins and outs of such a complex dilemma.

What I do understand, however, and what I think this situation really reveals, is that the government and the free-market have no choice but to work together. Sure, proponents of an unregulated free-market will see this as step towards more government-controlled economy. Perhaps they're right. But they won't be right for long, and in a short matter of time the corporations will again cry "no regulation, no unions, no interference!", the government will cry, and the whole cycle will start itself over again.

In the end, it is more complicated than we all imagine, but much simpler than we care to see.

Ideologies, either in support of an unregulated free market OR total government regulation, are flawed in their extremities. You can't be one or the other, and if an old way is a purely ideological way, it is the wrong way. The natural order of things will always bring balance, and we'll always be forced to work together... whether we like it or not.