Bailout of Bear Sterns by JP Morgan Chase - backed by the fed. (That's you and me!)

I think what is prominently missing from the media discussions of the economic meltdown is how much of the current financial crises is a direct result of the ideological darling of the right - deregulation of financial industries.

Remember back when banks and investment firms were prudently regulated? These sort of economic meltdowns didn't happen every nine months.

Enron, the California energy crisis, the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, all of these are the direct result of the Republican's shredding of "burdensome" regulation in the last three decades.