Free Market Economy, R.I.P., Nuclear Future

With the former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan admitting before Congress that a total free market economy is not the best model for the world, and that the recent events have shocked him, we may be morphing into a more responsible way to run our economy. The world markets are reacting with violent swings daily that nobody can predict, and our efforts to stop them and stabilize hasn't done it quickly enough. Will somebody please replace those dunderheads at AIG...

You might think that after the Savings and Loan debacle, which occurred after that industry was deregulated, that some precautions might've been kept so that banks wouldn't be swayed by their managers stupidity and greed; but Mr. Greenspan trusted that the banks had the wisdom to avoid these kinds of pitfalls. 

With the rise of supply-side economic theory, of whom Dick Cheney was one of the biggest supporters, the followers of Arthur Laffer proceeded to put into policy their crackpot ideas so they could get rich at our expense. Phil Gramm, who was one of John McCain's economic advisors, is probably the best example and may be the person most responsible for the current crisis. From Wikipedia: "Some economists believe that the 1999 legislation spearheaded by Gramm and signed into law by President Clinton -- the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act -- was partially to blame for leading to the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis and 2008 global economic crisis.[10]. The Act is most well-known for repealing much of the Glass-Steagall Act, which had regulated the financial services industry. Gramm responded to such criticism by stating that he saw "no evidence whatsoever" that the subprime mortgage crisis was caused in any way "by allowing banks and securities companies and insurance companies to compete against each other."
The Washington Post in 2008 named Gramm one of seven "key players" responsible for winning a 1998-1999 fight against regulation of derivatives trading. Gramm was later critical to passage of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, which kept derivatives transactions, including those involving credit default swaps, free of government regulation.
On October 14, 2008, CNN ranked Gramm number seven in its list of the 10 individuals most responsible for the current economic crisis." Gramm was also involved in passing a bill that provided a loophole for Enron, where his wife was on the board of directors.

There are currently 34 applications to build new nuclear reactors in the US. We have 104 currently working, and no new ones have been built since 1978. Facilities to produce components are being built in Louisiana, Georgia, and South Carolina. Unfortunately, we still have not solved the problem of what to do with nuclear waste. The current solution is to bury spent nuclear rods in a salt mine over 2000 feet in the ground in Utah, with another place in Nevada to be approved. This is deemed better than placing them in barrels and placing them at the bottom of the ocean, which is what some countries were doing. The real problem with the underground disposal will be to keep humans from encroaching the areas for the next 10,000 years...