THis economy is the fault of both parties and the love of their special intersts. The part of the economy that caused this crash was caused by the Democrats to get Obama elected and to promote thier socialist agenda.

As for Bush rewarding wealth over achievement, I'm not sure about that one. I'll have to think about it. That kind of presupposes that the government controls the whole economy, when it really doesn't (let me change that to "it really SHOULDN'T." I think Obama is all about government control, as are the Dems). That comment by Edwards may have grown out of his pro-union populist sentiments. Bush (the government) doesn't set wages. The market should do that. Or maybe I'm not clear on what you're saying.

Yes, I fear the OB regime will destroy wealth in the process of redistributing it, but any party that thought George Bush was preferable to John McKain a little over eight years has serious problems with judgement. Assuming we're still holding elections I think OB will be succeeded by another Democrat; it will take that long for Americans to get the taste of the last eight years out of their mouth.

And frankly, I'm getting pretty tired of you saying I'm making errors and then not pointing out even ONE. You do that over and over. I'm sorry that facts offend you so, but they are still facts.

The Enron loophole is about energy commodity speculation. It has nothing to do with the financial crisis. Pretty weak attempt at misdirection. Why hasn't your hero and his Dem Congress ended subprimes, bundling, securitizing, or instituted mortgage loan standards ? Those DO pertain directly to the financial crisis.

King, like he does with WMD and the run-up to Iraq, blames Republicans and Democrats equally for our collapsed economy. For 20 out of the last 28 years, we've had a Republican president. I guess that doesn't count.

One example from W……he personally upped the leverage rules for the big investment bank players from 16-1….to 30-1. He did that in 2005-2006. Lifting leverage rules exacerbated the problem. It was an unilateral act of deregulation.

And can you give me a reason why Republicans didn't close the Enron loophole on commodities trading? GOP president, GOP Congress…..why didn't they re-regulate such an obviously problematic loophole?

I don't care much for the term "trickle down." It's a bit misleading. I like "the rising tide that lifts all boats" better.

What I am certain will never work is to continue with this spend/borrow/tax big government model. That simply isn't sustainable and will lead directly to our destruction, but I don't see much will in Congress to change it. Instead, we get soundbytes from our leaders about fiscal responsibility at the same time they abandon all fiscal responsibility. Up will never be down, no matter how much propaganda they throw at us.

As between Da King and Rev. on economic issues, it looks to me like Liberals are often excessively preoccupied with the distribution and redistrubition of wealth without giving much thought to the creation of wealth. It also looks like Republicans give sole emphasis to creation of wealth, but ignore its manner of distribution falling back on trickle down theory if pressed. Republicans also seem to have trouble differentiating between creation and accumulation of wealth. I think Bush et al saw no real difference between Ken Lay and Henry Ford.

Who got rid of usury laws in this country ? Jimmy Carter, with the Monetary Control Act of 1980.

Who created subprime mortgages ? Carter again, via the same act.

Who let investment bankers into the mortgage industry, resulting in the Wall Street casino environment for mortgages and housing markets ? Bill Clinton (and his Republican Congress), with the 1999 update of CRA that repealed the Glass-Steagal laws that were in effect since the Great Depression.

Who made Fannie/Freddie the biggest bundlers and securitizers of subprime and other mortgages, which allowed the banks to make risky loans, because they could immediately sell them on the market and relieve themselves of responsibility for their own lending decisions ? Primarily honchos from the Democratic party.

Who pushed for more and more housing for lower income people, which was the true driving force for all the irresponsible change in the mortgage industry over the years, resulting in banks being pushed and pushed by the government to make more irresponsible loans ? Both parties did, including Bush, but far more Democrats than Republicans played that game, and it was liberal interest groups that were pushing the hardest.

I've been over and over this stuff with you countless times, yet you persist in the delusion that none of it ever happened, that it's all the fault of the big bad conservatives. That's the BIG lie. I'm not relieving the GOP from responsibility, but you trying to lay it all at their feet is incredibly dishonest. It's literally a fairy tale. You sound like Barney Frank. The Democrats are up to their necks in it.

And Rev, I know you didn't notice, but my original post was non-partisan. It was primarily a criticism of the way our government works in general. Obama is mentioned because he is the president, dictated the terms of the GM bankruptcy, and is continuing the trend. Democrats and Republicans are just two sides of the same corrupt coin. That's why limiting government power is the better path to follow. That's also why we have a Constitution. Too bad we don't use it.

That second part might have been true 30 yrs ago; very doubtful today. He had the GOP then & now. But sooner or later doctrine always runs into a brick wall. Economists draw their curves, but the real world goes its own way. In the long run doctrine falls apart without a leavening of common sense.

Rev., either you'r mellowing a bit or I am. As to your first paragraph, no comment.

2nd & third para. Pretty much true, but sometimes big government IS the problem.

Para. four, some truth. I reserve judgement on Obama.

Last para. true, but so do democrats. Clinton bears some of the blame for the 9/11. FDR & some parts of the New Deal began the undermining of American Manufacturing. Unions are not solely responsible but they sure did their part.

Why don't we take Madoff and the AIG execs and waterboard them? Ought to learn something, and even if we don't we could say we did, and it might be fun.

Primarily conservative ideology led directly to the "too big to fail" situation in banking. "Laisse-faire" doctrines of the economy are conservative boilerplate. A "government is the problem" mentality led directly to a hands-off of big corporation policy.

And that led directly to the collapse of our economy at the hands of greedy, deregulated players.

By leaving out this vital perspective, you do readers a disservice. Obama didn't campaign on, nor did he desire to temporarily control big banks or shake up historic automakers. Foolish conservatives advocate for the, "let them all go under" approach without the slightist concern for the national and international consequences.

It's all typical and expected….conservatives never acknowledge the horrible mistakes of their own policies, and conservatives are never to be held accountable for those mistakes.