We are weeks into the "biggest economic disaster since the depression" and we have no clear path out of the mess that Carter planted, Clinton watered, and the 109th/110th Congress has allowed to grow.  It appears we have no choice but to reap what has been sown, and I am not very confident McCain can get us out of this mess, largely because the congress is under Democratic control.  I am certain Obama will make it worse.

One thing that could be done is to replace the unified power that Paulsen enjoys with that of a counsel of economic experts.  Any reader of Forbes knows that they have long been calling for the break up of Fannie and Freddie, most recently in the August 11 issue.  Holman Jenkins of the Wall Street Journal advocates a similar course of action in a pre-bailout article; "With Fannie and Freddie on the ropes politically, let's put them on a path to privatization and liquidation."  He goes on to say "...putting the Fed in the job of helping to regulate them...would just be to put monetary policy at the service of propping up yet more financial services companies.  This is not a policy for financial stability..."

Of course, with hindsight, this is exactly what happened.  There are numerous examples of economic crises throughout American history where letting badly run businesses fail has caused temporary problems, but ultimately long term stability returned within a year to 24 months.  One example of where government intervention only made the situation worse by bailing out failure was the decade long depression of the 1930's.  Here we are 79 years later and the same tactics are being applied again.  It was Albert Einstein who said that insanity could be defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  What is it when you know the action is going to fail but you do it anyway?  Is that insanity, stupidity or arrogance?

I agree that something had to be done to fix the problem of liquidity in the market, but I think that there were several free market solutions that could have provided the same relief that the bailout is intended to provide, without the debt for which we the people are now responsible.  In the end, Chris Dodd led the pigs to the trough and the feeding frenzy ensued.  Republicans made an attempt to try a different approach, but the steamroller was in motion, and they perceived that the only way out was through...and now we have no choice but to go along for the ride.

Would we be better off if the people developing the plan were financial experts rather than politicians?  Almost certainly, but for this opinion to be right, things have to get a lot worse for us living in the real world outside of Washington D.C.  For once, I hope I am wrong.