I agree that if we know the history of our economy we can better understand how we got to where we are today, BUT it's a waste of time and energy to try and place blame on either political party, the banks and mortgage companies, the Realtors, wallstreet, etc., etc.. Ultimately, we, you and me, are responsible for this economic mess. Did we question what wallstreet, the banks, mortgage companies, Congress, etc. were doing? No, we didn't! We were happy as a puppy with a dog treat to see the market value of our home rise beyond what we knew in good conscience it was worth. In fact, some of us may have jumped in on the home speculation market. Did we ever question what the company we held stock in was doing to make such huge profits when their product market was decreasing? No, we didn't! We cashed the big interest or dividend check with a smile on our face, a song in our heart and congratulated ourselves on what smart investors we are. I could go on, but the bottom line is that we caused this mess by our own greed, and ignoring our responsibility to make sure honest and knowledgeable people represent us at all levels of government. Now we have the opportunity to elect people whom we believe can get us out of this mess and will take whatever steps are necessary to prevent it from reoccurring. If we allow ourselves to fall victim to believing all the wild personal, meaningless accusations of the political candidates, and ignore the real issues and how they want to deal with them, then we will again be responsible for our irresponsible behavior. Isn't this a great country? In what other country could you step in your own shxx and blame someone else for it being there.