How Can We Explain It?

The latest example of the mismatch between ideology and reality is the housing crisis.  The party’s individualist model cannot explain the social contagion that caused hundreds of thousands of individuals to make bad decisions in the same direction at the same time. ~David Brooks

It could if Republicans were willing to acknowledge the role of the Fed in creating the housing bubble in the first place through low rates and cheap credit.  Consumers took advantage of the conditions created by reckless monetary policy, which led to many people buying houses they could not afford and going into debt they could not repay.  People were responding to incentives, as we all do, and some made poorer choices than others.  Of course, probably the only thing more powerful than the cult of Palin is the cult of Greenspan, who has never done wrong, so instead let’s complain about the baneful influence of Goldwater.