Iran and World

After the September financial meltdown, many abroad, and some at home, immediately � and with undisguised glee � blamed America�s problems on cowboy excess and forecast the end of American global influence.

But while those opportunistic critics had a point that reckless Americans had taken on far more debt than they should, the growing global economic downturn may well hurt others far more than the United States.

We got into this mess not because the American political system was flawed or because its free-market system was stagnant. The problem was that after some six years of uninterrupted growth, human greed drove us to demand even more than we had earned.

McCarthy: The Los Angeles Times�s Strange Notion of Journalistic Ethics Editors: Junk the Automakers' Bailout Kurtz: Life of the New Party New: Pro-Life Laws Work Freddoso: Millionaires� Club Bordlee: The Deadly Side of Spreading the Wealth Interview: A Matter of Conscience