In The USA: the Next Revolution

[Dayuhan]

The striking down of the specific regulations I'm talking about was/is a perverse incentive.

Only to a very minor degree. The regulations didn't do much and their removel did little to contribute to the crisis. the actual causes are far deeper and a good deal harder to address. Probably the worst thing to do right now would be to pass a bunch of regulations and call it done... like blaming everything ion the banks, that's an easy way to avoid looking at actual causes and trying to develop systemic solutions.

That sorta exemplifies what I'm talking about. You're proposing that the crash shouldn't be blamed on the banks as if that's a centrist view.

I don't think view has a place on the political spectrum... it's just true. Anyone trying to blame this exclusively on banks isn't paying attention, and is pointing all of the blame at 1/3 of the problem, which is not a way to solve anything.

I don't think it's useful to try to talk about what the majority of the country wants, because it's too easy to spin that sort of talk into support for whatever side you yourself are on.

I'm not even talking about "what most of the country wants". I'm talking about setting ideology aside and trying to actually look at what's wrong and how to fix it. That will probably not be what most of the country wants, because what most of the country seems to want is to blame somebody, hang somebody, and pretend nothing more needs to be done.

One of the most awkward problems of democracy is coming up with - and following - good long term economic policies in an environment where good long-term economic policies are often going to be unpopular. I don't know that anyone's managed a good solution to that one.