Katerina's post reflects my sentiments exactly. Here's O bashing the banks for laws and policies he and his Congress mates passed and espoused. Does anyone remember that only Chris Dodd as chm of the Senate Banking Committee received more in contributions from Fannie/Freddie than O? And what's more O was receiving contributions from Fannie Mae, led by Franklin Raines, while he was a senator in the Illinois Senate? Why was that? Now he gets to bash the banks for following the law, and for believing the rating Fannie put on the paper they created on behalf of O and friends social engineering? Frank, Dodd, Obama, Schumer ought to be in the dock, not representing the people.

I'm a former follower of Johnson's blog and I, too, am very sorry to see him leave the good fight for the loony-bin left. It's hard to imagine what happened here other than Charles had a nervous breakdown of some sort or the other. Perhaps David Horowitz, who long ago converted from the delusions and madness of the left to the right and has become one of the most important warriors against the thought control and political correctness going on in Universities today. It's such a weird change one can't help but wonder what happened to this poor soul. And I agree with DP that Johnson's 10 reasons for converting to liberalism were all almost like he was projecting. Strange stuff.

Echoing Donald's remarks, Mr Towery gives us a litany of culprits but fails to mention the catalyst and biggest one of all: Congress. It was the CRA legislation first enacted in the '70s and then enforced in spades during the Clinton years that led us to ruin. "Social Engineering" by Congress (mostly democrats but not a few repubs as well) inevitably corrupted the system and led Wall Street and others to lend their hands to the inevitable result, over leveraging (too much debt) which in the end sinks the ship. The solution. Keep government out of the economy as much as possible and pass a law prohibiting social engineering. We'll be a generation coming out of this one.

A few good friends, men and women, voted for Obama. Their reason was universal: he's black, we need change. They meant that electing a black would put racism to rest once and for all. And by change they meant anybody but GWB. My rejoinder was he has no record of accomplishment, he has no experiencing leading or managing anything, he has a dubious background, at best, there's too much risk in your decision. I wonder how they feel now, their president lurching from disaster to disaster, being made a fool of by despotic leader after leader, domestically leading us in to one blind alley after another. No good will come of this election.

Wow. what drivel. I suppose, Lon, Hamas is really just a well-intentioned peace-keeping group that only dedicates itself to Israel's extinction because they want what's best for those in Gaza? Palestiniians coule have had a state years ago were it not for Hamas and Hizbollah's control and manipulation of these poor souls who were abandoned by their Arab friends 60 years ago. Get it straight, Lon, Hamas and Hizbollah are radical Islamist terrorist organizations dedicated to the destruction of Israel. My guess is you are one of them.

The traditional American way of conducting business is, or should be, give it your best shot and if you don't get the business find out why so you can get it next time. It may be some other company under bid you, it may be a competitor had a better mouse trap, it may be you were aced out by bribes. Given the corruption in the ME I suspect the latter in this case. In the end doing business with a government is always fraught with uncertainties. If possible, best to avoid doing government contracted business and concentrate on the free market driven by efficiency and innovation -- hallmarks of US businesses.

Let me disagree with the good professor and the BS in Mechanical Engineering commenter. My son was diagnosed with a rather severe memory learning disability while in grammer school. In a nutshell, he didn't process information by reading because his memory sensors didn't work like they were supposed to. He was plenty bright, and excelled in woodworking, still we thought the experience of a liberal arts education would be valuable to him as an adult. We sent him to a good preparatory high school from which he was accepted at a good (large and private) urban college from which he graduated in four years with the assistance of note takers for lecture courses. Fast forward to 10 years out of college, he is happily married to a high...

These reforms -- simple and comprehensible -- are so obvious that I, as a garden variety American citizen, have been promoting them among my friends for many years. CK has it exactly right, now we must find a way to get these simple, reasonable and sure-to-be effective reforms in place. But only after we stop the slow motion train wreck now going on. This is Occam's razor principle at work. The simple and most direct is always the best! Talk it up folks, it will work!