Doom and Gloom

So, there's a theory floating around out there that the many "missteps" of the Bush administration are actually calculated and calibrated actions, designed to destroy "government" as we know it. The most popular tracts dealing with this theory are Thomas Frank's The Wrecking Crew, and - to a lesser extent - Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine. If one were to contextualize the recent financial disaster through their lenses, one might suggest that putting the federal government on the hook for nearly $1 trillion of flimsy assets - belonging mostly to rich people - might be devastating to the federal government's abilities to create and sustain programs that help, roughly, every other American. I don't necessarily agree with the most extreme versions of this theory, but suffice it to say, the free-market right has a preternatural ability to be opportunistic about imposing ideology when crisis strikes.

This post by Devilstower on Daily Kos does a pretty remarkable job of spinning this scenario out, with sufficient detail to help a layperson understand. Again, I'm not endorsing the totality of what is said here, but it's worth reading the whole thing. Here's the conclusion:

"The sub-prime mortgage crisis that has not only come so close to utterly destroying the markets, but has ruined the value of many people's homes and left millions with mortgages they can't pay, was also the outcome of the deregulation created by [conservative ideologues]. The very predictable outcome. When taxpayers are left holding the bag for $1 trillion this time around, it's hard to believe it's any sort of accident.

This is enemy action. This is a bullet deliberately fired into the economy by men willing to exercise their ideology regardless of the cost to taxpayers. Men who have every expectation that they can plunder the system again and again, while the public picks up the tab. John McCain may not have had his finger directly on the trigger, but he was there. He assisted. These were his personal friends and philosophical comrades. He may not be the high priest, but he has been a loyal acolyte in the cult of deregulation.

It may come as a surprise to the champions of deregulation, but nobody likes regulation. The restrictions that were placed on banks, S&Ls, and other institutions in the 1930s weren't put there because someone thought it would be fun. They were put in place because they addressed problems that had just been clearly and painfully revealed. They were put in place because they were necessary."

-Education Dude