How did the economy get in this bad shape?
Clinton, Republicans agree to deregulation of US financial system
By Martin McLaughlin
Nov. 1999
http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/nov1999/bank-n01.shtml

It happened the same way with the health insurance problem.
Blame Congress for HMOs
by Twila Brase
http://www.cchconline.org/privacy/hmoart.php3
Wasn't it Will Rogers that said that when Congress tells a joke, it is a law?

Scaring Us to Death
by Walter Williams
Things are not nearly as gloomy as the pundits say. Most of today's economic problems, whether it's energy, health care costs, financial problems, budget deficits or national debt, are caused by policies pursued by the White House and Congress. As my colleague Dr. Thomas Sowell suggested in a recent column, we don't look to arsonists to put out fires that they've created; neither should we look to Congress to solve the problems they've created.
http://townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/09/24/scaring_us_to_death

What Happened to Market Discipline?
by John Stossel
Irresponsibility induced by government-created perverse incentives is the culprit. For decades politicians of both parties have relieved big companies of the responsibility that market discipline would have imposed. The promise -- explicit or implicit -- to bail out companies "too big to fail" weakens market discipline. That invites recklessness.
We do need protection from reckless businessmen. But there is only one way to provide that: market discipline. That means: no privileges, and no bailouts.