In our own backyard

My gut tells me to trust what Tom Friedman says, but my mind is telling me not to go there...yet.

He's been right so many other times (a bit too hopeful on Iraq, but otherwise on target), and he's not generally an a demagogue - so it might be smart to take it seriously when he does ring the alarm.

Here's a paragraph from today's column, linked above...

Right now there is something deeply dysfunctional, bordering on scandalously irresponsible, in the fractious way our political elite are behaving — with business as usual in the most unusual economic moment of our lifetimes. They don’t seem to understand: Our financial system is imperiled.

Given that a lot of the market panic is based on a lack of trust, Friedman argues that the President should install Tim Geithner at Treasury...next week. And that Congress should stay in session. And that we should not underestimate the hugeness of the problem... WMD, in the form of subprime mortages, that were buried in our own backyard.