This seems relevant to the current debate:

“On the morning of October 30, 1929, President Herbert Hoover awoke the day after the biggest one-day stock market crash in American history, surveyed the state of the U.S. economy and declared, “The fundamental business of the country, that is production and distribution of commodities, is on a sound and prosperous basis,” said Reid, quoting Hoover.

Not sure how close the events of the last few days relate to the Great Depression, especially since the markets seem to have bounced back a little today and I doubt that with all the protections in place it will get to that, but then again, Greenspan, the guy probably most responsible for this mess, is saying this is a once a century event. Regardless, I think this speech today by Obama was pretty damned solid:

You know, there are a lot of things about which I simply do not agree with Obama. But hot damn, it sure is nice listening to someone speak in full sentences, using complete and often complex thoughts and weaving those thoughts into broad and overarching themes. Compared to the stammering and stuttering gibberish from Bush the past eight years, and the staccato, machine-gun like bursts of incoherent aggression from McCain, and Obama is like a cool breeze on a hot summer day.

At any rate, this was just a great speech, and the guy just exudes comepetence. At about 5:15 in, Obama describes exactly why a ton of people like me are going to vote for a Democrat for President for the first time (transcript here):

If you want to understand the difference between how Senator McCain and I would govern as President, you can start by taking a look at how we’ve responded to this crisis. Because Senator McCain’s approach was the same as the Bush Administration’s: support ideological policies that made the crisis more likely; do nothing as the crisis hits; and then scramble as the whole thing collapses. My approach has been to try to prevent this turmoil.

If that does not describe the last eight years in a nutshell, from the fateful August 6th memo on, I do not know what does. Obama’s indictment is scathing, particularly in relationship to the current mess:

In February of 2006, I introduced legislation to stop mortgage transactions that promoted fraud, risk or abuse. A year later, before the crisis hit, I warned Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke about the risks of mounting foreclosures and urged them to bring together all the stakeholders to find solutions to the subprime mortgage meltdown. Senator McCain did nothing. Last September, I stood up at NASDAQ and said it’s time to realize that we are in this together – that there is no dividing line between Wall Street and Main Street – and warned of a growing loss of trust in our capital markets. Months later, Senator McCain told a newspaper that he’d love to give them a solution to the mortgage crisis, “but” – he said – “I don’t know one.” In January, I outlined a plan to help revive our faltering economy, which formed the basis for a bipartisan stimulus package that passed the Congress. Senator McCain used the crisis as an excuse to push a so-called stimulus plan that offered another huge and permanent corporate tax cut, including $4 billion for the big oil companies, but no immediate help for workers. This March, in the wake of the Bear Stearns bailout, I called for a new, 21st century regulatory framework to restore accountability, transparency, and trust in our financial markets. Just a few weeks earlier, Senator McCain made it clear where he stands: “I’m always for less regulation,” he said, and referred to himself as “fundamentally a deregulator.” This is what happens when you confuse the free market with a free license to let special interests take whatever they can get, however they can get it. This is what happens when you see seven years of incomes falling for the average worker while Wall Street is booming, and declare – as Senator McCain did earlier this year – that we’ve made great progress economically under George Bush. That is how you can reach the conclusion – as late as yesterday – that the fundamentals of the economy are strong.

Sorry for such a long post, but I wanted to make sure this got some attention.