The SEC is America's watchdog which is found wanting, like our ASIC, ACCC. The NYSE, Standard & Poor gave erroneous quotes, advice, exacerbating the dilemma.

The creators of the crisis is America's Hall of Shame. A Nation consumed with unbridled GREED, that has met it's Armageddon, and left the rest of the World smouldering in it's aftermath.

The accusation JH sought to reduce the State's Powers is not only correct, Rudd is aping his predecessor.His grand Plan includes usurping all the Public State Hospitals and Medical services. His infrastructure plans include the Dams, Waterways, desalination plants, inclusive the Great Barrier Reef enclave. Universities, Education and Tertiary Ed is a prime target. Amalgamation of Councils, local Govt under Commonwealth jurisdiction. His manifesto and magnus opus would eventually lead to a giant, mammoth Bureaucracy which will nationalise the Power Industry, Transport Industry, Tourism and Trade. The ACTU will control workplace relations and Aust peak Business Council will play second fiddle.

The Rudd Utopia.

The writing is on the wall. You can bet on it.

C'est la vie !

Why do we pay K Rudd to be PM when he spends his time writing a politically motivated, logically unsound treatise on who to blame for the economic crisis.

But he'd have plenty of spare time while aboard his private jet travelling buckshee the world. The only reason he didn't go to Davros was his focus groups were telling him people were sick of seeing him make a fool of himself and Australia on his self-promoting overseas jaunts.

I wonder what take they'll have on his latest piece of professortial lecturing junk. If he fails to make that UN position he'll easily get a job at Griffith.

Why does he ignore the effect on the Australian economy of the inept and unsound apparatick run labor state regimes?

What ever happened to ending the blame game?

Why's he dropped his sycophant bleatingss about the dominant role his beloved and invinsible Chinese power house is having on the Australian economy? Doesn't he speak Manderin anymore? Or is it that he doesn't want anymore lectures on human rights from the Chinese dictator, you know, the one from that Government run, not merely interventionist, imploding economy?

Why's he ignoring the fact the Chinese economy started to implode during the Olympics, well before the impact of the US collapse in Sub-Prime loans started?

Oh why oh why are we forced to listen to the idiot and his sycophant supporters in the traditonal and now 'official' Australian media?

Don't people realise that the Australian media is so insular and led by the nose by incompetent comentators that they would report a fart by Laurie Oakes as a significant event worth reporting?

The media in this counrty is a disgrace and the fact the garbage written by a very very dumb PM is published widely in our media and accorded the status of intellectual comment is laughable and shows the depths to which it's credibility has plummeted.

Anyone who now thinks the traditional media in this country is anything other than a propaganda machine for inconsistant, dysfunctional and demonstratably failed left wing political views is a fool.

Rudd should actually read Mises and von Hayek ... they actually do show an effective way to deal with the current crisis ... most effective. But no Rudd has his views fixed and set. He is leading us up his populist garden path and hasn't a clue about the realities.

I bet he hasn't even heard about Alt-A loans. They are the reason banks are currently hoarding money. They represent 40% of US housing loans. The subprime were 15%.

The terms for Sub-prime and Alt A had three significant differences.
1. Qualifying for an Alt-A you needed no income no assets but a credit rating. No credit rating was required for a sub-prime.
2. Alt- A loans had a low start period of five years. Sub prime was three years. Sub-prime toxic loans started to show in April 2006, two years ago.
3. Alt-A loans were parcelled and on sold as prime loans. Sub-prime ... well ... were honestly sold as sub-prime.

Rudd and his funny little out of his depth treasurer infectually threw our savings of $20 billion at the sub prime fiasco. What are they going to throw at the Alt- A horror? A $60 billion annual deficit?

And nobody yet knows much at all about the US 'Junbo' loans.

Ken L,

You appear to have missed the article's distinction between pro-market reforms and deregulatory reforms:

"While the Howard government certainly did allow markets to function more freely in many cases, it is inaccurate to say that it was dedicated to deregulation."

Given this distinction, it is quite clear that there is no contradiction.

Also, you seem to analyse the article in terms of personalities, where people 'betray' Howard or Bush. Being an academic, it's surprising you you don't seem to appreciate the value of free enquiry and debate. If you did, you would welcome being presented with a rebuttal of the PM's thesis.

'... the Chinese dictator, you know, the one from that Government run, not merely interventionist, imploding economy?'

No no Keith. "China’s economy is primarily capitalist." I have it in writing from no less an authority than the author of this very post, Leon Bertrand :D. See http://kenalovell.com/blog/2008/03/03/why-giving-is-wrong/

Really? Do you think that pensioners can live on 281 Australian dollars a week. Run their cars (if they have one) pay their rates, insurance on their homes and cars, eat...electricity and heating then have a few pets ... well you lot that are sitting there pondering on your jobs, well think about us. We were once in your situation, but age etc., divorce, etc., forgot us.

We are loosing our teeth, health,(and only so much Medicare will allow?) and if we live in the regional areas are deprived from many council services that the inner city councils provide.

While a reverse mortgage is great, but we won't have anything to leave
our kids, as my parents worked for. It went up to 10.45% interest last year.

Sure the capitalist world is great, but it is controlled by greedy
business people, who have gambled their investors monies. In my opinion conning them on the strength of their investments.

And now capitalistic revenues and basic agendas have collapsed.

The thing that went wrong was when they allowed private people to own gold bullion. Before it was restricted to banks. Now anyone can own gold bullion, without restriction.

I'm not a economist but to me capitalism has imploded on itself. And I am sure the Islamic world bankers controlling petro dollars has helped them indirectly do it?

And those costly wars?