I am not interested in laying blame and I don't give a tinkers damn about any one political point of view. They are all self serving SOB's.
The issue at hand is that if we as a nation all stand around wringing our hands waiting for the presedent or Congress to fix it, we are dooming our selves.
The first and formost problem I see is the LOBBIEST. Sheeze they got more stroke than any one in Washington but the only intrest they have in us is our pocket books. If we can't get control of them, who you vote for will be of little importance.
As far as our economy goes, you can thank a certain Senator from Texas for the legislation that led to the melt down. He left the Senate after he got his bill passed, guess what he does now and for who. As a lobbiest he's got more power than he ever had as a Senator.
There is a hell of a lot more to this than can be laid out here and a lot of it was nothing more than greed that we (average Joe?) had our hands in also.
Congress generally trys to bend to the demands of the public (constituants) or at least as the Lobbiest or special intrest groups explains it to them. You can vote one out and a new one in but all you changed was the name on the door.