The "Bailout" is a consequence of a collapse in our economy that is

25 years in the making. The real blame for our predicament is the

entire "government is the enemy" Republican philosophy which was championed by Ronald Reagan. The reality is that the financial

meltdown we are seeing now is the final verdict on that bankrupt

philosophy. I am not aware of a country on earth where widespread

prosperity and high quality of life coincides with weak government.

We do not live in a vacuum -- we have the benefit of seeing

examples of government played out around the world. And almost

without exception, widespread quality of life is brought by social

contracts (through strong democratic government) where the citizenry share

responsibility to provide health care, to provide for dignified

life for the elderly, to provide a safety net for those who have

lost everything, to provide quality public education, to provide a

good infrastructure, to protect the environment etc. The verdict is

in -- the Reagan revolution was a stunning failure, and we are now

harvesting the fruits of that failure.

Our current problems are the long term result of the

destruction of the middle class due to a massive redistribution of

wealth which Reagan set in motion. Reagan ran through Congress huge

cuts in the top marginal tax rates and simultaneously ran up a huge

budget deficit with his love of military contract spending. Having

slashed taxes on the wealthy, it was left to the middle class to

pay off Reagan's budget deficit. Simultaneously, the government had

no money to invest in the type of domestic spending that would have

paid dividends for decades to come -- improving teacher pay (which

would have recruited better teachers and paid long term dividends

in a better educated population), developing our infrastructure

(mass transit anyone?), and moving toward some type of universal

health care system are just a few examples.

If we hadn't gone down the path of trickle down economics,

working people wouldn't have collapsed financially -- leaving so

many foreclosures -- at the first sign of trouble in the economy.

That's what started these dominos falling.

It's the final verdict on the complete failure of the

Republican philosophy of weak government and unbridled corporate

greed.  Basically the flip side of the new deal -- which brought growth and prosperity to the middle class for 60 years until the effects of the Reagan revolution starting unraveling the benefits brought by FDR.