Lehman went bankrupt; the markets went into the tank. George Bush looked like a deer in the headlights while John McCain said something stupid about the fundamentals being sound just as they were crumbling.. Clueless Sarah Palin just kept hammering and yammering about "palling around with terrorists."

Four years later, Mitt Romney fails his "Lehman moment" spectacularly and resorts to bringing his legions of liars onto the stage to bolster his faltering campaign.

Four years later, Phil Gramm has the nerve to say the repeal of Glass-Steagall didn't cause the meltdown.

Four years later, one of the major beneficiaries of the market meltdown is running for President, funded partly by dollars in the treasuries of the corporations who most benefited from the bailout.

Four years later, Fox News is still spinning propaganda, Sarah Palin is still getting air time, and nearly half of all Republicans believe the president is not a US citizen.

Progress? Are you better off today than you were four years ago? I am, but not in the way I imagined I would be four years back. I guess it pays to be flexible about outlooks.

We do live in interesting times.