Things were "falling apart" in 2003-2006. Things are working correctly now.

The excessive leverage in the system (due to rule changes by the SEC, under Bush) allowed these banks to lever up (take on debt) to unbelievable levels. They went from 12-1, to unlimited. The de-leveraging in the system will take some time, the government bailout will not work, it might spare a few jobs on Wall Street, but Main Street is heading for a major recession due to the unwinding of these speculative excesses.

The Great Unwinding continues...

According to Lee Iocca, Bush's decision to plunge into the invasion of Iraq was based on his personal "instinct." He is quoted as saying, "I've learned to trust my instinct."

In a press statement, Bush said something to the effect, "My instinct was to let market forces correct itself." (Don't recall the exact quote.) Just where the president gets his instinctive insight has never been made clear. God telling him what to do? I don't know, maybe somebody else does and isn't talking. Lord knows what else he is deciding, or has decided, on his instinct.

Whatever the GOP was or is supposed to be, it has become a religious movement for a minority of fundamentalists with their own agenda of creating a theocracy. If republicans are allowed to govern the country according to God, then God help us.

I've never applied for the job of being a Bush Apologist, but in this situation, I think there is plenty of blame to go around on both sides.  It's a failure of government, it's a failure of economic opportunists gone awry, and its a failure of all who got sucked into the machinations of economic opportunists. 

My post was meant to convey an observation rather than an indictment. Blaming one person or circumstance for the economic uncertainty would be dodging accountability and the whole story.

Yes, there is plenty of blame to go around. No argument there. However, a mismanaged war and now a financial crisis has happened on the president's watch. He's the one charged with minding the store. As Truman's desk plaque said, "The buck stops here."

"Whatever the GOP was or is supposed to be, it has become a religious movement for a minority of fundamentalists with their own agenda of creating a theocracy. If republicans are allowed to govern the country according to God, then God help us."

Like my wise old grandmother always said,   "Never trust a preacher that owns more than two suits."

It's a pity that the "Christians" in the present administration never bothered to read an ancient document.

"Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.'" 

Matthew 19:23-24

"People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." 

1 Timothy 6:9-10

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." 

Matthew 6:24 

"Then Jesus said to them, 'Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.'" 

Luke 12:15 

Preach it!  By the way, do you own more than two suits?  Just asking :)

Nope, just one....it's for marryin' and buryin'     :)

Well, you better not gain too much wait if you want to fit into the suit the second time around.   LOL!