A Silver Lining in a Dark Economic Cloud

(Via VH1) E.J. Dionne has a good article on how traditional conservative economic assumptions are being challenged by the current state of affairs. A-Lias and I were talking the other day about this ... that Conservatives have been deft at hiding behind the "competency" defense (I think Yglesias is good at pointing this out) - i.e., the Iraq war wasn't a mistake it just wasn't executed properly, or supply-side economics and tax cuts are the way to go we just haven't always cut the right taxes, or deregulation will promote growth but there have just been some bad egg CEOs out there that have taken advantage of the rest of us, etc. What A-Lias and I were saying (and Dionne explains) is that the end results of many of these policies show not that that the policies were corrupted by bad actors but that they are the extension of actual bad policies - many of which have been festering since the Reagan (aka 'GOP Jesus') administration. If anything positive will come from this confluence of economic crisis let's hope it's a re-examination of the validity of some policies that have gone un-challenged for 30 years.