A guy on the news a couple of days ago was complaining about the price of gas and asking, "where's the regulation?" It's scary how dependent we have become on the government to solve our problems. I overheard someone else making the comment that the government will step in and stop the gas price increases if we go to $5 a gallon. The solution just has to be more government.

Commercial banks are dropping like flies and what are we going to do? Regulate them some more, according to the 2 major party candidates.

Here's an idea from 2003:

"If Fannie and Freddie were not underwritten by the federal government, investors would demand Fannie and Freddie provide assurance that they follow accepted management and accounting practices…. By transferring the risk of a widespread mortgage default, the government increases the likelihood of a painful crash in the housing market. This is because the special privileges granted to Fannie and Freddie have distorted the housing market by allowing them to attract capital they could not attract under pure market conditions. As a result, capital is diverted from its most productive use into housing. This reduces the efficacy of the entire market and thus reduces the standard of living of all Americans."

You can easily guess which member of Congress said this based on my political leanings.

It's not as if all of what we're going through hasn't been predicted for a long time, and both of the major candidates will only put a bandaid on the problem.

UPDATE
Here's a great quote from George Bush's (41) speech at the RNC in 2004 that is telling:

Thanks to President Bush's leadership, more people than ever own their home. And, more than half of minorities are now home owners -- the highest level in history.
The President's American Dream Downpayment Act is helping people overcome one of the biggest hurdles to being a homeowner -- finding the money for a downpayment.
Since the President announced his plan in 2002, more than 1.6 million minorities have become homeowners.