My 2 trillion: you have to correctly define the problem in order to evaluate changes. IMHO, that depends on who wins in November – they will write the narrative of what went wrong and therefore what the solution is.

Is the problem that broker-dealers failed and because of counter-party risk, etc. the Fed, Treasury and gov’t had to organize a bailout?

Is the problem that over-eager lenders, aided by over-eager home appraisers, builders, lent money to over-eager buyers who wanted to “flip” a house for a quick buck?

Republicans and democrats have a role in both of these problems. Regulatory arbitrage was a big part of the problem that neither party wants to discuss – broker-dealers getting an easy ride from the SEC or mortgage brokers/lenders totally avoiding the existing banking regulation system through securitization. Fannie and Freddie have a large role and paid a pretty penny for their years of lax regulation from OFHEO – they got away with a lot of stuff than Sarbanes Oxley would have prevented had fannie and freddie not be exempted by Congress.

Tell me who wins in November and I’ll tell both what the narrative will be and what the prescriptions will be 😉