I still haven't seen anyone bring up the extremely questionable economic theories that allow us to justify this type of business. You can find plenty of instances of short-sighted financial decisions, enough to pin to any political party you set your sights on. But more than the agendas behind those decisions, I think it's the speculative behavior of counting cash before you have it in your hand that is at the core of these issues.
I'm curious, scotty - how will socialism destroy this country? We're in the crapper as it is, with a number of socialist countries pulling well ahead of us in terms of growth, health, employment, education... (I can't actually think of many large, successful nations that don't have socialist policies. Mexico?) Besides which, I don't really think that this is a genuine instance of socialism more than it's an example of loan sharking. We can both probably agree that you shouldn't borrow what you can't pay back, and likewise shouldn't loan what you can't expect to be paid. If banks had been watching out more carefully, they could've loaned less and still had the capital they need to stay afloat. The truth of the matter is that the people who had the power to protect us instead tried to make a buck and overextended themselves. Banks have billions of dollars per year worth of financial advisors on their payroll - poor people don't. I agree that a lot of politicians are shady little moneygrubbers that led us into this, but I resent the assertion that it's the everyday American's desire to own their own home (rather than handing over 50%-80% of their income to modern-day land barons) that put us in this situation.
Would redistribution of wealth be such a terrible thing? I wouldn't call it fair at all, but it is prudent. The wealthy of this nation have a disproportionate sway over our governing process (which is arguably unconstitutional) and have, again and again, demonstrated that they don't have our, or often even their own, best interests at heart. If we insist on giving the rich carte blanche with our nation's welfare then we deserve this and whatever more trouble comes our way.
~Joe