In the beginning they were given two choices. They took the easy way out. They always do. The politicians bailed out the banks, the bankers, and stole a cool trillion from the treasury which they used to make fractional loans. They didn't avoid a depression- they simply postponed it. Wall Street survived in some zombie fashion- inflating real estate and stock markets to astronomical levels. That is where we've been since the fall of '08 and the beginning of the Mar. '09 bull. Every one has been playing along because there isn't much else you can do. Go to work, grind out a bunch of taxes for the government and take out ridiculously sized loans on property to maintain the banker's profit margins. The American dream. Or nightmare depending on who you ask. This winter I spent six months touring the south. I traveled through Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. I spent time on the beach, ate at nice restaurants. What I didn't do- is look ...