The cost of our unwise and corrupt policies...

The credit collapse can be laid directly at Wall Street's door. We do not say this because we like sounding churlish, but because what has occurred has real, negative long-term economic and political consequences. The cost of our unwise and corrupt policies has already been very high and it will continue to rise unless we act now to do better. Confidence in the American model of capitalism has been shaken with good reason. Despite the rally of the dollar (mostly against the Euro, another compromised currency), the U.S. currency has been battered largely due to a loss of confidence in American economic policies and leadership. We continue to shift hundreds of billions of dollars out of our own coffers into those of countries that do not share our beliefs because we have moved too slowly to develop sound energy policies. ... We have allowed our derivative markets - specifically those related to credit (i.e. credit default swaps) - to grow in a completely unregulated manner to the point where everybody is basically holding their breath and praying that a financial accident won't occur. This has occurred largely because it has been in Wall Street's interest to limit regulation of derivatives. But the time has come to stop allowing the fox to patrol the chicken coop. ...

Michael E. Lewitt of HCM Capital Management
(Quoted in John Mauldin's Newsletter of 9/8/08)