The first six paragraphs of your last post I absolutely agree with

"It is an oft-repeated canard of the political Right that the Left wants to "make everyone equal". That is not true, it's never been true, and it simply cannot happen, because more motivated, determined, and capable people WILL do better and get farther in ANY system, regardless of whether it is leftist, rightist or centrist in nature."

That on other hand I do not. Not true, never true?? That has not been the experience in the UK. Labour Government means massive explosion in the Public sector and strangulation of the Private sector. The only trouble with that is that a large Public sector will never promote growth and prosperity and only increses the costs which a diminishing Private sector must pay. With Labour you always get "Big Central Government" and more regulation and more legislation than you can shake limp dick at - none of it encourages anything, capable people do get further but that is inspite of a socialist government than because of it.

Ah so Reagan caused the financial melt down did he?? It had nothing whatsoever to do with the collapse of the Sub Prime Mortgage market, which always existed and rubbed along quite nicely until during Bill Clinton's second term the two main mortgage brokers in the USA "Fanny & Freddie" were told to broker mortgages for people who should never have been lent money in the first place - commonly know as bad risks. This was done backed by a false impression given by the Clinton administration that the money for these loans would be guaranteed by the US Federal Bank. Only one thing wrong with all of that - the Federal Bank had made no such agreement.

In fact the "Fed" knew nothing about it until things started to come apart and people were borrowing money based on the supposed increased value of their properties (now you had all these bad risks playing at being financial gurus - driven by their greed, their necessity or by their stupidity). By this time GWB was in his second term and when the banks and Freddie & Fanny approached his administration and the "Fed" to stand by their guarantee they said "What Guarantee? Nothing whatsoever to do with us".

What should have happened was that GWB should have got the Fed to jump in then, right at the start, had he done so there would have been no meltdown at all and it would have been a damn sight cheaper for the US.