What do you think is the #1 cause for our economic problems?

[ck4829]

[Donnachaidh]

1. Deregulation followed by a tsunami of GREED

There's a special place in hell for Ronnie Reagan and his deregulation minions.

[ThomWV]

2. Greed

[flvegan]

6. Seconded without any doubt.

[emilyg]

13. Third.

[Two Americas]

21. greed will always be with us

But a political and economic system that rewards greed and punishes cooperation - that we could do something about. If we want to talk politics, that is, rather than about improving people. Let's fight to get the boot heel off of people's necks, and I bet they will do a lot of self-improvement all on their own.

Most - almost all - people would rather cooperate than be greedy, but the system forces people to act out of greed to survive.

[gravity]

28. People can cooperate for greedy reasons

Everyone was working together in the financial crisis, from the home buyer to the corporate exec. Everyone was getting along until they realized that they built a house of cards without realizing it.

[Two Americas]

29. right

The libertarian greed idea just will not die, will it? Most every day people who have been voting Republican have started to figure it out and see the scam for what it is. That is why McCain started talking like a populist.

If the Rand idea that when we all selfishly pursue our own personal material interests, that somehow "honor among thieves" will lead to cooperation and utopia has not been discredited in the mind of every Democrat yet, I do not know what it would ever take.

[gravity]

26. The cause of every financial crisis

[Toucano]

3. $580,000,000 Iraq war, tax cuts, and deregulation. n/t

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

4. Greed unfettered by even an ounce of morality or scale. nt

[ColbertWatcher]

5. Other: the entire GOP ideology. n/t

[Two Americas]

14. their ideology is nothing new

The wealthy and powerful people, for whom the Republican party has been the advocate, are doing what they always do. Nothing new there. They have had weak or non-existent opposition in recent decades. That is the problem. That puts blame on us and on the Democratic party, but it also puts the power to change that into our hands.

You don't blame the storm for the leaky roof, you blame the roofer. That doesn't mean you are "on the storm's side" or disloyal to your own side, or that you are denying the danger the storm represents. It means you are ready to face the truth and get to work to get the roof repaired before everyone drowns in the next storm.

[ColbertWatcher]

15. You can also blame a licensing system that allows such bad roofers. n/t

[Two Americas]

22. corruption you mean?

The "roofers" in my analogy are the Democratic representatives who are supposed to be fighting for us. I think they got bought off. Are you looking to Wall Street for our salvation, or to our political representatives? I assume the "licensing" thing refers to regulating the Wall Street people. In my analogy, they are the storm. Looking to the market - even if properly licensed and regulated - is the problem, not the solution. What about the workers? Or do you think that capital drives the economy and is the source of wealth, and that workers need to be bribed and threatened and should be seen as a commodity traded on the free market?

People over profits, or profits over people. What say you? Recent events should amply demonstrate that there is no middle ground. People matter, regardless of their "net worth," or they don't.

[ColbertWatcher]

24. I'm not very good with analogies; I'm still working on lipsticks and pigs. n/t

[Two Americas]

25. let's try again

The job of the Republicans is to advance the interests and desires of their wealthy and powerful clients, at the expense of the welfare of the general public. They are consistently doing that all the time, and will reliably do whatever they can get way with in that effort.

The job of the Democrats is to stop them from doing that and to defend the general public from them.

When the general public is not being defended, when people are not doing well, and when the wealthy and powerful few are getting their way at every turn beyond their wildest dreams, the important blame rests with our defenders.

You watch Colbert? He is doing a parody of the personal responsibility, free markets, rugged individualism talking points, you know. From the ideas expressed in your posts I fear that you are struggling with the concept of parody as much as you say you are with the concept of analogy.

[RoccoR5955]

7. "Other" Rampant fascism n/t

[progressive_realist]

8. Tax cuts for the rich and capital gains tax cuts

Made for too much capital chasing too few viable investment opportunities, thus leading to an explosion of exotic financial instruments in an ever-spiraling attempt to keep investment returns up, made worse by artificially low interest rates that allowed exorbitant levels of leverage.

Deregulation took away the safeguards that might have stopped things from escalating as far as they did, but the ultimate cause, IMHO, was too much money at the top. In a way, I think we got lucky, because if all this money hadn't gone into phantom paper profits, commodity (food & fuel) inflation would be even worse right now.

[quaker bill]

9. if you only had

deregulation and Bush being an idiot as a combo, then there would have been a truly correct answer.

Of course, adding "and Bush being and idiot" to all the options would be an improvement. You just can't say that enough.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

10. No, no, no. This neodepression is caused by MORE than deregulation!

It was caused by a certain segment of the Republican party ENCOURAGING, even PUSHING economic abuse!!!

SPEND SPEND SPEND! BUY BUY BUY!!! GREED IS GOOD!!! GOOO GREED!!! MORE MORE MORE!!! LIE LIE LIE IF YOU HAVE TO MAKE MONEY!!! LIE TO BUY!!! LIE TO PROFIT!!! LIE TO STEAL!!! LIE TO ABUSE ANYONE IN YOUR WAY TO MAKE MORE MONEY!!! LIE LIE LIE!!!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. Politics as usual. Screwing the people and telling them it's for their own good.

Now exemplified by the "bail out" of the rich, and the politicians, and telling the people that it's in their own best interests.

"When politics enter . . . government, nothing resulting there from in the way of crimes and infamies is then incredible. It actually enables one to accept and believe the impossible." - Mark Twain

[VeggieTart]

12. I don't think you can say there's a number one cause

Let's face it: It's deregulation, followed by greedy boneheaded CEOs.

[Sebastian Doyle]

16. 28 consecutive years of policies designed to fuck the middle class

And yes that includes the ones implemented by the DLC.

[Two Americas]

17. yes

Deregulation is but one part of the relentless program to transfer all wealth and power out of the hands of the people and into the hands of the few, and the Democratic party is deeply complicit and it goes beyond the DLC which is but one manifestation of the chronic weakness and cave-ins and compromises.

[Indenturedebtor]

18. Other: 30 years of depressed wage growth coupled with increased personal credit

Our economy has been an imaginary debt financed bubble for 30 years. The plan is to enslave us all to mastercard and fannie mae.

The deregulation just accelerated the process and forced the bubble to pop sooner.

Luckily though they can keep us from avoiding any of that foreclosure or bankruptcy debt by shifting it to the government.

[silverweb]

19. Greed + deregulation.

Deregulation just opened the door to enable rampant greed -- which was why lobbyists pushed so hard for it and people like McCain worked to accomplish (and profit from) it.

[stray cat]

20. According to McCain its Obama's fault just like the extinction of the dinosaurs

[varelse]

23. Another vote for "greed" here

deregulation was driven by greed.

[goodgd_yall]

27. Greed is a given; that's why we need regulations n/t

[KayLaw]

32. That's right.

Pretty simple.

[MsTryska]

30. Reaganomics

it sure trickled down alright.

[Shandris]

31. Laissez Faire!

C'mon its the Gilded Age all over again. Learn, history, doomed to repeat? Haven't people learned these things yet?!?

Government bad, government bad, 'hi were the government and were here to help', government bad, government is the problem not the solution, a free market lifts all boats, free market, deregulate, deregulate, government regulation bad, OH DEAR GOD WTF HAVE WE DONE GOVERNMENT COME SAAAAAVE USSSSS! :spank:

Argh, maybe I'm having a bad morning. I need a pepsi or something, my humours aren't balanced yet methinks. :)

[quartz]

33. Entitlement.

Everyone thinks that they are entitled to MORE!

[Hubert Flottz]

34. All of the above including the Bush tax cuts, the War in Iraq and

a hundred year old plot still in the works. What I mean is this...

http://www.scribd.com/doc/2683230/None-Dare-Call-It-Conspiracy-by-Gary-Allen

This act (the Federal Reserve Act)
establishes the most gigantic trust on Earth...
When the President signs this act,
the invisible government by the money power,
proven to exist by the Money Trust Investigation,
will be legalized...
The new law will create inflation
whenever the trusts want inflation..."
Congressman Charles A. Lindbergh Sr.
December, 1913



"IN THE UNITED STATES TODAY
WE HAVE IN EFFECT TWO GOVERNMENTS...
We have the duly constituted government...
Then we have an independent,
uncontrolled and uncoordinated government
in the Federal Reserve System,
operating the money powers
reserved to Congress by the Constitution."
- Congressman Wright Patman,
(former) Chairman of the House Banking Committee

........
"Those that create and issue the money and credit
direct the policies of government
and hold in their hands
the destiny of the people."
Reginald McKenna,
(former) president of the Midlands Bank of England.
.......
...


http://www.kamron.com/none_dare_call_it_conspiracy.htm