Things W's government didn't do that led to the financial collapse

Here is a short list of what the George W. Bush Administration did and did not do, from 2000 to 2008, which led to the banking and economic collapse of the last year. (And this says nothing of what W's same administration didn't do after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans or other travesties):

--Failed to rein in what Chairwoman Sheila Bair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. called a "shadow banking system" in which major banks ramped up their risks by making hundreds of billions of dollars in exotic, off-the-books bets.

--Decided to scale back the FBI's resources for tracking white-collar crime after Sept. 11, and assigned scant personnel at the Securities and Exchange Commission to monitor major investment banks after they were given new freedom in 2004 to take on added risks;

--Adopted rules in 2004 that restricted state regulators from policing predatory lending and other mortgage abuses, prompting some major lenders to seek federal charters to avoid tough scrutiny;

--Relyed too much on the credit ratings of Wall Street agencies, which had financial incentives to bestow high ratings on dubious mortgage-backed securities;

--Failed to monitor major banks' compensation arrangements that gave bonuses for completing mortgage securities sales, regardless of the risks of default;

--Ignored a warning to Congress by the FBI's investigation chief in 2004 that widespread subprime-related mortgage fraud would lead to a financial crisis;

--Failed to apparently be aware of and stop the illegal use of "short selling" which gets money "on the side" of a sale to a bank or lending institution. This is money that is used in the transaction but that is not reported and so is "off the books". It's illegal and it's apparently still being done today by the big banks, at minimum.

Ayn Rand, anyone?

Not me, thanks.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is why we need government.

These are all reasons why we need government regulations.

Pay attention to this Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, folks. Read up on it. It's only just begun and the travesties are all over the map.