In short, the businessmen involved were jerks. And, whether in Japan or the U.S., it’s challenging for politicians to frame a bailout with the slogan: Save the jerks! ....
the priority is to get credit flowing again in the arteries of commerce, even if that means saving the jerks. Otherwise, we risk becoming Japan.
I like how succinctly the NY Times columnist, and Oregon native, Nicholas Kristof, describes the situation we are in.
Perhaps we should have an all-Oregon debate on this issue: Nicholas Kristof versus Peter DeFazio. Am awfully glad and proud to be an Oregonian; we need more of these two--particularly in the deep South :-)
