I don't agree that George Bush is responsible for the entire financial calamity through which we are trying to make our ways. But never in our history -- and certainly not during the Great Depression when the conscientious Herbert Hoover was in the White House -- has there been a president so blithe as this one. Has Bush asked from where the trillion dollar bailout will come and, moreover, how we will ever pay for our super-gargantuan debt?
An interesting letter, "Dear Mr. Bernanke and Mr. Paulson," made its way to the New York Times letter columns, complaining:
"My student loans are too big and it is hurting the economy. Can I have a bailout, please. I need $92,000. Thanks. Nathan Kottke, St. Paul, Sept. 17, 2008"
Why the banks and not him?
But real choices have been made. To rescue the counting houses. But not to pay for medical care. And, also, not to fully equip our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And, by the way, how are we to treat foreign banks that are at the short end of our nasty stick?