Please do not fall for the propaganda that our economic troubles are due to a lack of government regulation.

It is much more complicated than that, and there is plenty of blame to go around.

Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac were both incompetent and corrupt quasi government companies which had the protection of the Democratic Party which opposed any meaningful oversight, disclosure or regulation. The Wall Street Journal and conservatives in Congress spent over a decade trying to shine some light on FNM and FMK, and were beaten back by the lobbyists over and over again. These reckless black holes gladly packaged more and more sub prime (very risky) mortgages into their supposedly "safe" securities, and they were pushed to do so largely by Democrats in Congress. The fall of these companies was like two well aimed torpedos. They alone could have sunk our economy, but there were plenty of other torpedos and dive bombs and cruise missiles too slamming into the great ship which was our economy.

Wall Street deserves much of the blame as do many of our banks, big and small. Do you remember all the slimy mortgage brokers getting rich?

It seems to be a well kept secret that most of the greedy traders taking so much risk with the impossibly complicated financial instruments they cooked up were and still are good DEMOCRATS. Their products and their reckless disregard for the great risks they were taking flew in the face of most careful and conservative economic principles. People like me hate leverage and over borrowing and speculation. I have actually known some of these guys. Many of them are big Democrats for obvious reasons. They know where the power is and they understand how to grease the wheels. Do you think Robert Rubin and Sandy Weill are Republicans? Do you think New York City is a place where conservative principles hold sway?

There is an old saying, "politics rule economics, and economics rule the world."

We all need to be a lot less naive.

Brooks gets to be a regular at the prestigious New York Times, Glennn does not. He stands on his own. Glennn seems to need to hide behind the hypocrite, Moyers' apron string, he does not.

Greenwald pulls one kind thing Brooks says about Daschle, and plays gotcha with it, and ignores the fact that Brooks also said he wanted to give BHO at least the benefit of the doubt, and was, in some ways, rooting for him to succeed, but Glennm needs to get bitchy, and make a big big deal out of Brooks' regard for Daschle. Glennn probably knows neither Daschle nor Brooks in any personal way. Maybe they know each other, and maybe they each have some valid reasons to hold some regard for each other. Brooks also wrote a nice column about Joe Biden before the election, saying BHO would be wise to choose a man he considered basically decent.

I don't think Brooks deserves Glennn's charge that he is just another corrupted beltway clown. I think he's a pretty open minded and independent guy. Actually, when he was a student at the great University of Chicago, he was as reflexibly left wing as Glennn still is, kind of a leader of campus progressives. He was smart enough and articulate enough to agree to a debate with Milton Friedman. Like William F. Buckley was when he argued, Friedman was both charming and coherent, and, guess what? Friedman's arguments and points were so clear and so obvious once he carefully explained them, Brooks had to revisit the kneejerk leftwingism Glennn still espouses, and went on to become one of the most articulate and independent thinkers on the center right.

In Glennn's narrow brain, you are either a believer or you are not, and Glennn is the truest of true believers. Leftoidism is like a religion for him, and he really does not Brooks (HAW HAW HAW) any difference with his avid leftism, because his thoughts spring from some perfectly pure blend of genius and compassion and wisdom. If this isn't a great example of left wing hubris and arrogance, I'll buy you a drink in Ocean Grove on Sunday.

What I don't understand is how Glennn balances his scorn for corruption with his love of big government.

Hellooooooooo!

I mean, can't he see that big government, by its very nature, just invites corruption, graft and greed? Big government just flings the door wide open and says "Ya'all come on in, let's party! We got plenty of money here. We print the damn stuff!"

How many crooks will it take till her learns?

Hello, Glennn!!!!:

Blagoyovich, Boxer, Braun, Burriss, Dailey, Daschle, Dodd, Frank, Geithner, Jefferson, Nixon, Pelosi, Reid, Ryan, Rezko, Rostenkowski, Stabenow, Stevens, Stroger .....and on and on and on.

Hellooooooooooo!!!

PS: Do you think that Glennn thinks that if he writes enough long columns the politicians will suddenly get religion, and really serve the people instead of serving themselves? Does he think human nature will suddenly change if he scolds us enough? Yes, everybody but me seems to adore Glennn. He is very intelligent, but that doesn't make him smart, does it? That doesn't make him wise, does it? This petty piece criticizing Brooks is kind of petty and snarky, isn't it? What's so smart about that?