Perhaps McCain never sat in on the Fed Chief's testimony, former Humphrey Hawkins, to Congress. Could be he never paid attention when Bernanke and Paulson gave testimony about Bear Sterns. He never heard Ron Paul, or Barney Frank assail economic policy. Perhaps he never reads anything, and he doesn't know a CDO from a donut.

Perhaps he missed the Enron trial, the hearings on the California Energy Crisis. What McCain is doing, or trying to do is trivialize the role of Congress, of which he is a part, but evidently never as large a part as he might have been.

There are of course a number of conspiratorial threads that run through this economic crisis, one is the gradual erosion of the separation of government and business. The Fed chief now operates as an undersecretary of Treasury. No Fed chief in this environment, would ever have the ability to do what Paul Volcker did in 1987, that is raise interest rates.

The Fed has become a tool of the administration. A commission might discover all the intracacies of that relationship, and make some recommendations, but only if the mission dictates that, and not some other dubious goals, such as placing blame for these events, and bringing CEO's to justice.

That is too limited, like the 'Paths To Glory', firing squad. There should be a commission on the expansion of powers in the Executive Branch, and how Congress failed to perform its role of Checks and Balances, even after the midterm elections.

A 9/11 Commission might not provide answers, but it will give a chance for people to tesitfy. The Warren Commission was a failure, but it gave those who didn't think Oswald acted alone reasons to feel they were still right. The 9/11 Commission had a similar effect. It proved through inference, that the Bush government was up to its neck in negligent behavior, or worse, something confirmed during Katrina.

That the COngress failed to Impeach the President will weigh on their political conscience, and it continues to drag Obama down, as he tries to shake the 9% approval rating that Congress has earned.

A Commission is good, just to see how venal, vain, and deceptive all the parties involved really were while all this was going on.

The privatization of SSN would have ended badly, very badly, and one has to wonder, would this government have been so anxious to bailout these institutiions. On the other hand with all that cash they wouldn't have needed backstopping, at least not for a few more years.

In the end it really doesn't matter, because there is no lock box to keep those funds safe, and we are borrowing against the program.

sigh. In the outcome SSN needs to have the entitlement wing trimmed, to save the retiree benefits. And while no, you can't live on SSN payments right now, after the grand deflation those meager payments will look pretty good, if Congress only vows to protect retiree benefits over and above entitlements.

I think SSN may do just fine, no thanks to Bush and his pals.

Incidentally I think Bush, Paulson, Treasury, and the FED, aka the Plunge Protection Team, were very busy the last few years trying to juggle this market higher, in the hope that the voters would see a stable, growing market, and eventually support the privitization of SSN.

The rally in 2003 conincided with the Iraq War, which among other things was the biggest bloodiest stimulus package ever devised. No coincidence that as the war in Iraq winds down, the market winds down?

Bush was a guy with very few ideas really, and he held onto to 9/11 because he was the only guy at the party who would talk to him.

I see McCain isn't sure what he would have done with AIG, but he's a reformer. Hard to be a monday morning quarterback, and the other kind as well. Is he ready to lead, let's wait and hear him second guess himself.

This is a buyout, pure and simple. Either AIG is the underwriter of those derivatives, and cannot pay the buyer, or AIG is a merely a third party, either way somebody has to pick up the bill, or the system collapses, and it is not a loan.

I don't agree with Andrew that somehow this stock market event threatens America, I think this is America's last hope. If we don't destroy the Bush regime and every remnant of its sorry corrupt, and partisan management, there is no hope for this country.

This is necessary, if the Democrats in Congress had any sense they would stand aside and let it happen. Who are you propping up, John McCain? You're not helping Main Street one bit, insurance is the biggest ripoff corporate America ever invented, and Healthcare insurance is right at the top. If these people would have stuck to their knitting none of this would be happening.

The Bush administration is trying to save its sorry ass, and the party's political future, at the expense of future generations of Americans who will be paying for this, the Iraq war, and the billions sitting in offshore banks, gained through no bid contract.

"If the mountains fell in the sea,

let it be,

it ain't me.

Got my own life to live

and I don't need to follow you.."

Jimmie Hendrix "If Six was Nine"

McCain approves the 85 billion TAXPAYER buyout of AIG and he calls Obama, a tax and spend liberal. Interesting CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS are against the bailout, (Shelby). Where is this Washington he is going to reform?