This is like handing your teenager the keys to the Beemer after they have wrecked the Mercedes. The proper response is to restrict and punish them, not let them feel like its OK, that mom & dad will clean up after them, and they can go on doing what they’ve been doing.

People say we don’t have time to reregulate. That is a mistake. We should be reregulating immediately. Yes, *before* we start doling out public money. When your kid comes home and tells you they totaled the Mercedes, do you first think “okay, well I know a good auto body shop, and the number for the insurance company is on my desk?” No, you scold them and send them to their room and tell them they are grounded. “Say goodbye to sunshine, sunshine” as Sid’s dad on Skins says. THEN you start fretting about how to clean up.

We’re not doing that. We’re not punishing or restricting. We’re just cleaning up messes letting the naughty adolescents run our lives. That’s bad governing. Ever hear the expression “someone needs to teach that kid a lesson”? We need that for the investment banks, lenders, and debt sellers.

If we hand out money and don’t start pressing our foot down on the necks of the investment banks and lenders at the same time, we’re only going to find ourselves out $700B and in a deeper mess down the road.