Obama Doesn't Blame Bush for Current Economic Crisis

President Obama seems to know when to speak in broader terms about the challenges facing the United States. Rather than focus on the most recent and memorable events that contributed to our current financial situation, Obama is trying to focus attention on the foundation on which our entire economic structure is built. Obama correctly pointed out earlier today that the U.S. government has been ill-equipped to deal with the rapidly changing dynamics of the global economy since the Great Depression.

He is proposing giving huge new powers to the Federal Reserve, giving it authority over the entire financial system. Of course, that in and of itself is going to be difficult because government agencies, by definition, are horribly inefficient at whatever it is they are trying to do.

In this instance, regulatory oversight given to the Federal Reserve will have to be efficient enough to allow the financial markets to move about without restriction, all while ensuring that they are in compliance with stated government policies. That sounds theoretically reasonable. But in reality, it's unlikely the government will have the ability to execute such a plan without crippling the financial system and the taxpayers who are funding the new oversight agencies.

It's clear that things need to change in regards to how the financial markets are allowed to operate, but it is very difficult to imagine our government being able to handle such a task without causing more problems than they're solving by doing so.