[Starboard]

but as the oil spill in the gulf and the economic collapse on Wall Street demonstrate, only the federal government has the ability to counterbalance powerful economic interests — and clean up the mess when they fail.

The main reason why they failed in the first place is because of the government's ineffectiveness and inability to act proactively to prevent these disasters. The gubmint did not adequately inspect the BP well and gubmint policies unquestionably encouraged risky lending. Government is not the solution, it is the problem.

[unseen1]

which tells me that the government is too big and too fractured to concentrate on the area where they should be. they have too many fingers in the pot and thus nothing ever gets done.

We need a smaller, leaner, government directed like a laser beam on limited areas. not a vast Leviathan of government with their fingers in every aspect of our lives.