Submitted by ssbaker305@yahoo.com, Sep 24, 2008 11:15

What deregulation? Well, how about the repeal of Glass-Steagal? How about the changes that allowed companies like Lehman Brothers to leverage their assets 30X instead of 12X as had been the case from the Great Depression until the 1990s. How about the series of dismantlings of risk limits by Phil Gramm and his friends? Really, this is too much. We have record inequality, stagnant or declining wages in every quintile except the top one, a record 1 in 9 homeowners having trouble meeting their mortgages or in outright default (I do agree that too many people were, or will be, allowed to take out mortgages; many of these people have no business being able to buy a home). The parallels to the current situaiton can be found in the 1920s and 1930s, and the solutions should be the same. We have run the scientific experiment twice now and we now know one thing for sure: given unlimited opportunity, financiers will take unlimited risk. Finally, I am not against speculation, and you (or McCain) will no more get rid of greed in financiers than you will get rid of athleticism in professional athletes. It is in their DNA. Greed is part of the job description. OK, but that doesn't mean they cannot be made to play by the rules and follow sensible regulations.

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