http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpSDBu35K-8&feat...

Given the record of these two who have lied throughout the campaign about each others positions, I don't believe him.

So I agree the government should create programs and policies that encourage saving, but raising capital gains taxes obviously won't encourage people to save.

Yes, some banks outright lied/committed fraud. Others put the actual terms of bad loans in small print to cover their ass legally and the folks borrowing the money failed to read it and ask the right questions (sorry – their fault, do a little homework if you're gonna borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars, be an adult). But overall, it comes down to the average American spending more than they take in (not even counting a mortgage) because they constantly want everything and more of it. No standard of living is high enough in our Blackberry/SUV/TIVO/HD/XBox/Ipod culture. Give us more, and we'll gladly keep going into more debt to get it.

Our greed and wastefulness as a people are legendary, and if the 6+ Billion in the world lived to our standard and behavior for even a week it'd be over. Game, set, match – not only of course for the environment but for economic markets.

However.

Ever heard the phrase “America and Americans tend to do the wrong thing before they eventually do the right thing”. I think history has proven this to be true time and time again. I truly believe this crisis will get worse, and people will eventually come to realize that they never should have bought that 42'' HD TV (on a payment plan nonetheless) when their old 22' CRT worked fine. Why did they do that? They'll realize things will REALLY get bad, and they'll actually have to live without all the little perks they THINK they need (kids in Rwanda should feel so sorry for them). They'll have to spend LESS than they take in and actually learn financial and fiscal discipline. When this happens, things will turn around. People will start SAVING money (what a novelty!!!) and realizing you CAN live with an $18,000 minivan instead of a $35,000 Navigator – and you won't die from embarrassment (really). And BONUS! – it also gets better gas mileage so those horrible “Big Oil” people won't be “Stealing” your money…..

Are there truly poor people in America who don't fit in the bin above – of course. For them we have welfare, unemployment, food stamps, and other programs to help and I support that. But you know as well as I do there are folks collecting money on welfare right now who are also watching CSI Miami on a big flat screen they had no business buying. Americans will change their behavior and fix most of this by reducing personal debt. I have to have faith that will happen because that's at the root of this whole mess.

Give it time, things will get worse and some folks will find they have to actually open a savings account and buy a piggy bank.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpSDBu35K-8&feat...

Given the record of these two who have lied throughout the campaign about each others positions, I don't believe him.

So I agree the government should create programs and policies that encourage saving, but raising capital gains taxes obviously won't encourage people to save.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpSDBu35K-8&feat...

Given the record of these two who have lied throughout the campaign about each others positions, I don't believe him.

So I agree the government should create programs and policies that encourage saving, but raising capital gains taxes obviously won't encourage people to save.

Yes, some banks outright lied/committed fraud. Others put the actual terms of bad loans in small print to cover their ass legally and the folks borrowing the money failed to read it and ask the right questions (sorry – their fault, do a little homework if you're gonna borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars, be an adult). But overall, it comes down to the average American spending more than they take in (not even counting a mortgage) because they constantly want everything and more of it. No standard of living is high enough in our Blackberry/SUV/TIVO/HD/XBox/Ipod culture. Give us more, and we'll gladly keep going into more debt to get it.

Our greed and wastefulness as a people are legendary, and if the 6+ Billion in the world lived to our standard and behavior for even a week it'd be over. Game, set, match – not only of course for the environment but for economic markets.

However.

Ever heard the phrase “America and Americans tend to do the wrong thing before they eventually do the right thing”. I think history has proven this to be true time and time again. I truly believe this crisis will get worse, and people will eventually come to realize that they never should have bought that 42'' HD TV (on a payment plan nonetheless) when their old 22' CRT worked fine. Why did they do that? They'll realize things will REALLY get bad, and they'll actually have to live without all the little perks they THINK they need (kids in Rwanda should feel so sorry for them). They'll have to spend LESS than they take in and actually learn financial and fiscal discipline. When this happens, things will turn around. People will start SAVING money (what a novelty!!!) and realizing you CAN live with an $18,000 minivan instead of a $35,000 Navigator – and you won't die from embarrassment (really). And BONUS! – it also gets better gas mileage so those horrible “Big Oil” people won't be “Stealing” your money…..

Are there truly poor people in America who don't fit in the bin above – of course. For them we have welfare, unemployment, food stamps, and other programs to help and I support that. But you know as well as I do there are folks collecting money on welfare right now who are also watching CSI Miami on a big flat screen they had no business buying. Americans will change their behavior and fix most of this by reducing personal debt. I have to have faith that will happen because that's at the root of this whole mess.

Give it time, things will get worse and some folks will find they have to actually open a savings account and buy a piggy bank.

It has been the workings of our financial sector and its clients (those “Americans themselves”) — with oversight (or not enough of it) from the government — that have gotten us into this mess. At this moment, the entirety of that financial sector, and the vast majority of Americans who don't have the first clue how things have gotten so bad so fast, are waiting with bated breath to see what their government is going to do next, and whether it's going to work.

Of COURSE McCain, Obama, Congress and the current executive branch are flailing about for ways to fix the mess. They're politicians, not economists, and I don't personally know many economists who can win an election. (Certainly, Paulson, Bernanke & Co. have proven themselves inept at selling a bailout/rescue plan to the public.)

Regardless of all that, solving this crisis is going to require the greatest economic minds we've got — Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative — to come up with a coherent and viable plan (or two or three), convince the private sector and the public to embrace that plan, and then implement it. Whether it involves great expenditures of public funding, a massive change in the way we do business, or both, there's going to be a whole lot of necessary governmental action and direction in our economy over the next several years.

Which direction that involvement takes will depend a lot on who wins next month, but will need to be bipartisan and will need to attract a significant public buy-in. Systemic change, of the sort that's currently required, is going to have to be a public/private partnership that incorporates effort and sacrifice by millions of individuals, businesses and governmental organs working with common purpose.