The Markets, As They Are

Jim Geraghty notes the statements by McCain and Obama about the crisis in the financial markets. He understates it when he calls it "painfully vague" in the headline. Neither one has any specifics, but I'm not sure either could really offer any. The best we're going to see out of either one are effective arguments why the other side is to blame.

By contrast, Megan McArdle lays out a list of ideas that might have helped, along with the downsides and why they weren't considered. As for blame, I think her fundamental point on that is that it's everyone's fault, and it's also irrelevant. If all of this were easily foreseeable, then many people would be making money off the expectation of the housing bubble ending and the ensuing problems.