Is This What October '29 Felt Like?

Wow, waking up to find out that Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch have gone belly up is more than a little boggling. Imagine all the MBA's who were counting on large paychecks and bonuses, suddenly finding themselves and their skills as much in demand as a blacksmith. Maybe less.

And gee, isn't it a shame that Bush and McCain and the Republicans weren't able to successfully privatize Social Security? Why, I am sure those nice people in the banking and financial management industry would have been able to handle Grandma's survival money MUCH better than those government bureaucrats.

And how interesting that those same people who have largely financed Republican candidates who hate big government suddenly want the government to intervene and bail them out.

This is the doing of the Republicans, with occasional assistance from some Democrats. Many of the financial safeguards left over from the FDR administration were done away with in the years since the Republican takeover of Congress in '94. Banks could sell insurance, insurance companies could become financial houses, and there was a general environment of "What business can we expand into?"

It's going to be hard for the Republican party to explain this away. It's going to be harder for them to convince people that they are the best people to get us out of this situation.

But jeez, this is scary.