Financial Leaders Try To Repair Damage From Failed Policies

This is what the headline of a Washington Post article discussing the meetings of the G-7 finance ministers, the Internation Monetary Fund, and the World Bank should have said. Instead, the Post decided to turn reality on its head with the Orwellian headline, "A Weekend to Start Fixing the World." This is really one of those moments that leaves one wondering whether laughing or crying is more appropriate. I mean, let's be serious, why is the world broken? The alleged fixers are precisely the people who designed the financial policies that led to the current crisis. The Post headline is written as though the economic crisis descending on us was an invasion from another galaxy that our brave leaders are now determined to combat. The real story is that the financial wizards meeting in Washington repeatedly ignored all the warnings that there were large imbalances (like the housing bubble) and that the financial system was overly leveraged and under-regulated. These are the people that missed the boat, that stifled dissent, the know-it-alls that got it wrong. Let's stop the airbrushing of history.