DH—I’m surprised you haven’t chimed in on the latest use of taxpayer dollars.

Tramps, I didn't know you cared what I thought. I see at least four factors in the current financial mess: (1) Greed and magical thinking on the part of individual investors and homebuyers. I have no sympathy for them and I think they should suffer financially for their own bad decisions. I have bought property and I have sold mortgages, so I have been on both sides of the table. Everything is laid out on that table, and no one is forced or hoodwinked into signing the paperwork. Personally I always tried to educate borrowers on the process of lending, and I encouraged them to think about what they were getting into. But there are a lot of stupid people out there, who run up debt and then pay off credit cards and other consumer installment debt (car loans, furniture, et cetera) by refinancing their homes. Then, of course, they go out and run up more consumer debt. Our society is full of greedy, vain, weak-minded people who think they are entitled to whatever they want, whether they can afford it or not. (2) Greed on the part of mortgage lenders and big banks and insurers. I have no sympathy for them either, because financial companies like these are typically run by opportunistic, short-sighted executives who are interested only in their own careers and the size of their next bonuses, and not the long-term good of their companies or the basic soundness of their financial decisions. These people deserve to lose their jobs and the companies that employ them deserve to go bankrupt. However, when large financial institutions fail, the impact can hurt many people who have nothing to do with the bad decisions, and the global standing of the U.S. can also be damaged. So you have to think carefully about what to do when a large company like AIG faces bankruptcy, because the collapse of such a company could have a catastrophic impact on national and international markets and investor confidence--even on the U.S. dollar, which has been all but destroyed by the big-spending, low-taxing Republicans. Reagan's economic policies started the problem, Bush I continued it, and then after Clinton did all he could to bail out the sinking ship, Bush II finally sank it. (3) Insufficient government regulation of newer financial instruments and markets, such as the packaging and trading of mortgage-backed securities, and derivative financial products. You could say that the government did a poor job here, and you wouldn't be wrong. However, you could also say that the government had no experience in these areas precisely because these markets are so new, and therefore the regulators had little understanding of what sorts of problems might arise, how bad they might become, and how to forestall them. One might argue that because U.S. regulators failed to do their job to prevent the current mess, the federal government therefore has some responsibility for it, and therefore at least a moral obligation to try to resolve it as cleanly as possible and with as little damage as possible to the U.S. and world financial systems. (4) U.S. fiscal policy under all the Republican presidential administrations since Reagan, which has weakened the dollar, all but destroyed Social Security and Medicare in the long run, and undermined the U.S. economy to the point that it is vulnerable to any crisis. Clinton, for all his narcissism and personal moral problems, was a very smart guy and did a great job with the economy and the federal budget. As time goes by he looks better and better. Nobody would accuse any Republican president since Nixon of being smart, and I would never say that a president has to be smart to be successful. But I would argue that having a smart president can be valuable, and may occasionally be essential. After a bomb has gone off, you can't lose yourself in debating what-ifs and should-have-dones. You have to assess the damage and fix it as best you can, and then you start planning to prevent it from happening again in the future. Do I have confidence that either McCain or Obama understands the economic problems and will address them intelligently? No. And their running mates are no better: Biden is a long-time Washington insider, all talk and no action; while Palin has no clue about anything and also has serious ethical problems, if the noises out of Alaska these days mean anything. That's probably more than you wanted to hear about what I thought. Dark Horse

Yo, I thought it was about 12 miles!

Well, there was that bit when you were out in front and I had to hoof it to catch up, so I subtracted that.

Clinton, for all his narcissism and personal moral problems, was a very smart guy and did a great job with the economy and the federal budget. As time goes by he looks better and better.

Lets not forget that it was the Clinton administration that encouraged subprime loans. The philosophy was that everyone should be able to afford a house. (I don't disagree with your post, I just wanted to add the one missing part.) http://ibdeditorial.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=306370789279709

Lets not forget that it was the Clinton administration that encouraged subprime loans. The philosophy was that everyone should be able to afford a house.

Dave, I'm not disagreeing with you, but let me suggest that subprime loans in support of wider home ownership are a good thing, and are not the problem. The problem is insufficient reserves against losses, i.e., poor risk management. It is the job of the federal government to regulate the financial markets, because history has shown again and again that financial markets are incapable of regulating themselves effectively. In the absence of coercive regulations, financial markets will pursue short-term advantages, ignoring possible longer-term problems. Dark Horse

Re: Dark Horse's posting ... written as fact - much is bull. So, though I hoped to put a stop to this garbage last week, I am going to leave. ... Every site I see appears to be riddled with Obama supporters posting all kind of garbage about Republicans and McCain. Typically there is very little written by the right side of the aisle in response. Perhaps they/I don't feel it is nice/right to post equally appalling garage in defense. So it gets one-sided and taken as "It must be so". Sorry. Can't take this loonie garbage any more. Maybe after the election we can all get back to being runners and not Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives, loonies, whatever. Bill

Bill, I apologize for not starting a separate thread. I was responding to Tramps who basically asked for my opinion in this thread. If you were to start a separate thread, I would be grateful to you for pointing out what I said that is "bull ... garbage ... all kinds of garbage ... loonie garbage." It's called having a discussion. Since we are a democracy, discussions are good. However, maybe political discussions are not so good in the daily running thread. Some people, who are maybe a little insecure about their own points of view, or intolerant of other points of view, may feel threatened and blow up and walk out. I gotta love it. Tramps thinks I'm a right-winger. Berger lumps me in with "Obama supporters" and "loonies." I guess this means I'm right in the middle of the road, which is generally where I try to be. Dark Horse

Carefully considered and respectful discussion and debate is not only a good thing, it's vitally important. A separate thread, as proposed earlier, would be helpful to avoid cluttering the daily. And we should all, of course, avoid name-calling and overly inflammatory prose. I would rather see more thoughtful rebuttals and responses and fewer people leaving in a huff. Anyhoo - I ran 8.1 miles this morning. Our houseguests have moved on, so I may be able to catch up on my sleep a bit tonight.

Mainerunnah---how awesome that you'll be with Boston Billy. Ask him if he'll be at Hartford? He's often at the marathon expo or there on race day since that's his hometown. I still get an adrenaline rush when I see hin or Joan Benoit Samuelson. I did get to run with Greg Meyer at a development conference years ago and that was pretty awesome. Erika---I can feel your taper energy (oxymoron? ) booming through cyber space. I am sending good weather vibes. Even with all my focus on pacing I still can't resist going out hard. Try to ignore those relay folks and go for the race you know you can run. I signed up to volunteer for the NYC marathon and chose various finish line duties (mylar sheet wrapping or medal distribution or chip clipping). I won't know what I get until October. Either way, I'll be there to high five you, Twocat and Aamos. Time for dinner Karin

Mainerunnah---how awesome that you'll be with Boston Billy. Ask him if he'll be at Hartford? He's often at the marathon expo or there on race day since that's his hometown. I still get an adrenaline rush when I see hin or Joan Benoit Samuelson. I did get to run with Greg Meyer at a development conference years ago and that was pretty awesome.

Much like you I also get quite a rush when I get to speak with Bill or Joan and it is even better when we get to run together.