"Zoot" wrote in message
I agree that it is peculiar. I think a certain amount of crash and burn
should be allowed to happen. If a company can't meet its payroll without
borrowing money, payday after payday, they deserve to go belly up. If a
city can't run their busses without borrowing money, they should shut them
down. The current financial "crisis" in the USA will pass, and as a result
the weaker businesses will be gone. You don't shoot the Doctor because you
loose a patient. And you don't scrap capitalism because it hiccups. I say
keep the government out of it. It will recover, the stock market will
recover, and America will be stronger because of it.

The US is not the only place experiencing a financial crisis - it's spread
worlwide and I strongly suspect the worst of it hasn't hit yet.
Additionally it isn't only the financial crisis that has stuffed the US -
the cost of going to war in Iraq has yet to hit home too. I think the US is
is a far worse situation than most people have yet realised.

I've always been an advocate for government taking on the role of an
educator, not an enforcer. Educated people tend to make better decisions.
A lot of people took out a mortgage that was a really stupid idea, and
didn't know better. I have a close relative in bankruptcy right now
because he bought a house on an interest only loan, and now he couldn't
afford the payments. Duh! A little education about home loans and
mortgages could have prevented a lot of this.

The US certainly has huge educational needs. Last night we were watching
interviews of people in (Iowa I think - at least were McCain has been in the
last coupe of days) and we were both mortified at the comments these poeple
made. They were unbelievably naive and ignorant when it came to politics -
and we'd always thought the US was reasonably good about teaching it's kids
civics. These people all sounded like they'd come out of a brain washing
factory - very scary.