Also, last week’s This American Life was another fantastic show on the banking system and why things seem to be still melting down. Most basically, banks need to hang onto most of the capital they’ve received from the government, not freely lend all over the place, because it’s the only way to avoid falling deeper into the hole. We are, indeed screwed, and there’s no way to make the guys who fostered the mess pay without nationalizing banks for a time, because the taxpayers would end up having to fix the collapse of institutions just as we are being asked to save them. Go listen after you see the video.