I've been listening to quite a bit of news on the radio (various stations) within the past week, interviews with different figures in politics and economics, mostly economists, and I don't know how many times I've heard the majority of them voice the same opinion: the only way the country is going to get out of this mess, and stay out, is to reinstate the controls that FDR established in the New Deal—and keep them in place. The current crisis started when Reagan began dismantling these controls.
It's very popular to demonize Roosevelt these days, particularly by conservatives and those who don't know much about the history of the "Great Depression," what led up to it, and how it was dealt with, but he knew what he was doing. Capitalism without the kind of controls that the New Deal instituted is like a traffic intersection with no lane lines, no traffic lights or signs, and four blind corners.
A difference between the Great Depression and now: in the GP, CEOs of companies their mismanagement ruined committed suicide by jumping out of their office windows. Now, they're given $150 million dollar bonus by way of severance pay.