Dear Mr. President

Hey Spindrift,
Alan Greenspan was a student odf Ayn Rand, but then he became Chairman of the Fed and abandoned most of the Objectivist principles he had learned from her. Like the Socialists, do not blame a problem created by one entity on something else. Just the fact that Greenspan was at the helm when all this happened does not mean that he correctly applied the principles he learned. Greenspan has not been part of the objectivist circle for several decades now.

9mmshort, You're right, but one can't stop trying

As an economist, I respect these laureates. As an ex Wall Streeter, I find the one item missing that was a significant (if not major) cuase of the financial meltdown. There is no mention of accurate valuation of assets, be they real estate, securities or borrowers. All of the mentioned solutions will not work if assets are misrepresented to lenders, investors, insurers or buyers. This situation WILL recur.

The War in Iraq was promoted by Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld who have been part of the Republican executive circle since the days of Gerald Ford. (They were both members of Ford's cabinet). They believed that by ousting Sadam Hussein, a Democratic government would prevail in Iraq, eventually become a US ally and as a result benefit us by allowing for cheaper oil for the US. Unfortunately they didn't consider that it is an unstable country by nature and always will be because of sectarian violence. There are 3 sectarian groups - the Sunnis, the Shiites, and the Kurds, who will always fight each other for religious reasons. (Just like the Israelis and Palestines have always and will always fight each other). Joe Biden who helped resolve the Kosovo conflict during the Clinton administration, has proposed splitting up the country into 3 sectarian states which would help to resolve these ongoing conflicts. Something like this is likely to work because it has been proven to work in Bosnia-Serbia. Right now Iraq is one big conglomerate mess with no infrastructure and honestly, we have ourselves to blame...

Agree whole heartily with Peedoff; But, as far as the Column goes could not agree more with William Carey; Paul Krugman's assessment made no sense at all; and to think Noble used to have a patriotic ring to it; is now gone forever...No better image was during Katrina when a reporter went up to a man in a lounge chair, drinking a beer, and said "Where do you go from here"?....Guy says "I don't know, but something has to give"...It is like yeah get off your ass walk to safety and stop relying on the government to bail you out...

Americans have to realise, and very soon too, that there is no free lunch! The current crisis was just waiting to happen with irresponsible government spending and policies - here read unbridled deregulation of the financial market. Well, now to the remedies: first the minimal amount of regulation in the financial markets with credit worthiness being the underlying yardstick, second a compulsory savings scheme for all working citizens with a pre-defined percentage contribution by emloyers and employees alike of salaries earned (this fund will be apportioned to be part medical, part housing and part retirement nest egg - the typical contribution would be of the order of not less than 10% by contributing parties), third create jobs through infrastructure rehabilitation and development with government (federal and state) spending and funding provided by the employee/employer "savings fund", fourth judicious investment in health care calling for a sensible private sector/public sector mix, revisit standards of education bottom up with the emphasis on science and technology and encouraging R&D, and last but not least, reviewing military expenditure and the predisposition to unnecessary and often futile excursions abroad.

As for taxes, the long term goal must be to reduce taxes and especially corporate taxes to encourage both domestic and foreign investment. However, the primary task is to get the system going and for it to reach steady state before any drastic "fix-its"! So the strategy is similar to a critically injured victim: one - stanch the haemorraging, two - stabilise the system, three - rehabilitate the patient to recovery, and four - fortify and arm the patient with a sensible and manageable lifestyle.

But how do we bell the cat? Effective management, and this will be new President's greatest challenge. Seek out the nation's best (brains and experience in equal measure) and abide by the 5 cardinal rules of effective management - planning, organising, staffing, MONITORING and CONTROL.

In short, the "invisible hand" has to be sensed but not be overt - a little like the "holy spirit", everpresent but not intrusive!

Kouros Pappadopoulos
Desperate times demand despearte measures and so the

Spindrift, this is not Alan Greenspan's fault. You can never pin the blame of a poor or successful economy on any single individual. If you've ever taken macroeconomics, you would learn that recessions and expansions occur naturally in alternating cycles. Unfortunately, whoever is president at the time gets either the credit for expansion and prosperity, or blamed for a recession. The prosperity of 90s made Bill Clinton look good, and the recent recessions have made George Bush look bad. I'm not trying to bash or support either candidate, this is simply the reality. I honestly believe that we need to restrain spending (which is impossible in today's Congress because of earmarks), bring troops home from Iraq (my goodness what a waste of money - HUNDREDS of BILLIONS of dollars), and NOT raise taxes. Raising taxes will hurt this economy plain and simple, no one can refute that.

vblick, You're ideas are great! I have only one addition. The government should crack down on these
employers that hire illegal immigrants. My son is a construction worker for the union and he said about 3/4 of the people where he works are illegals and the company is aware of it. He said it is a safety issue because they don't speak english.

Paul Krugmann is a Socialist. That's the important thing one needs to know. His advise is poison.

slammer360, are you GW's speech writer?

Hey peedoff...I don't know how much luck you'll have with your post. Most of these blogs don't deal well with truth or reason.

The nobel prize stopped meaning anything of substance the day the Peace prize was awarded to Yasser Arafat. Calling in a panel of Nobel prize winners to comment about how to 'fix' the economy is like taking Bin Laden's advise about what is best for America. The Nobel prizes have become a venue for direct attack on core American values of Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Every recent Nobel laureate has held virulent convictions that are directly opposed to what this country was built on. The right to life is not the right to be kept alive. Yet that is the solution most of these 'experts' suggest. Tax the rich so that the poor may live. When did this become a country based on envy, like the communist regime in the USSR? There is no right to health. Health is something one earns through a lifetime of proper living. But as soon as someone says this, he is accused of being insensitive to the poor. It is not OK to demand that people take some personal responsibility anymore but apparently it is perfectly acceptable to blame the rich for every societal ill. The truth is that this entire mess was created by Government regulation in the form of the CRA (Community restructuring Act) passed by the Socialist Carter and fully implemented by the Clinton Administration. The act made it unacceptable for banks to base their loans on credit scores under the charge that it was discriminatory and prevented everyone from owning a home. Yes, many banks were greedy and lent money that should not have been lended. But the Government, with arbitrary regulations, distorted the normal risk that every lender considers before lending. You cannot put a gun to someone's head and demand they do something, and then turn around and blame them for what they did. Advocating that Government regulation is what is needed to solve this problem is like asking a person dying of Arsenic poisoning to drink more arsenic.If you are looking for proper, objective answers to these questions, visit the Ayn Rand institute website. Or better yet, read Atlas Shrugged. To hell with the Nobel laureates!

The nobel prize stopped meaning anything of substance the day the Peace prize was awarded to Yasser Arafat. Calling in a panel of Nobel prize winners to comment about how to 'fix' the economy is like taking Bin Laden's advise about what is best for America. The Nobel prizes have become a venue for direct attack on core American values of Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Every recent Nobel laureate has held virulent convictions that are directly opposed to what this country was built on. The right to life is not the right to be kept alive. Yet that is the solution most of these 'experts' suggest. Tax the rich so that the poor may live. When did this become a country based on envy, like the communist regime in the USSR? There is no right to health. Health is something one earns through a lifetime of proper living. But as soon as someone says this, he is accused of being insensitive to the poor. It is not OK to demand that people take some personal responsibility anymore but apparently it is perfectly acceptable to blame the rich for every societal ill. The truth is that this entire mess was created by Government regulation in the form of the CRA (Community restructuring Act) passed by the Socialist Carter and fully implemented by the Clinton Administration. The act made it unacceptable for banks to base their loans on credit scores under the charge that it was discriminatory and prevented everyone from owning a home. Yes, many banks were greedy and lent money that should not have been lended. But the Government, with arbitrary regulations, distorted the normal risk that every lender considers before lending. You cannot put a gun to someone's head and demand they do something, and then turn around and blame them for what they did. Advocating that Government regulation is what is needed to solve this problem is like asking a person dying of Arsenic poisoning to drink more arsenic.If you are looking for proper, objective answers to these questions, visit the Ayn Rand institute website. Or better yet, read Atlas Shrugged. To hell with the Nobel laureates!