Riginslinger, I think this is too big for one person to fix - any one. It cuts right to the quick, and highlights that the country has been overleveraged throughout and has been living beyond its means for years. It will take sacrifices from all and a dent in the standards of living to fix this.

And the unfortunate thing is that this is no standalone US-only problem. AIG insures loans throughout the world, not least in the thriving Chinese econmy, which would be at serious risk of going belly-up, if AIG had been allowed to fail. The American taxpayer may be more than a little peeved at the bailout, but the alternative is so much worse!