Now that the first rushed Wall Street bailout plan has been rightfully swatted down, maybe it’s time to really work on something to solve the problem. Why not gather the finest minds in economics and finance together to form an Economic Manhattan Project? Give them say 3 months to come up with at least 3 plans to fix the mess and prevent its recurrence going forward.
It would then be Congress’ responsibility to select the plan to implement. Of course the plans would be subject to debate and compromise. But under the watchful eye of the public, I think there’s a chance that the temptation to slip back into the usual mode of congressional business could be lessened. (One can dream right?) In any case, at least we would have on the table some plans that make sense and might just work.
Sadly, I doubt that any such thing will come to pass this close to a presidential election. But it sure would be nice to put our vast intellectual resources in motion for the common good for a change.