From The Observer
By Joe Conason

At the brink of global ruin, many Americans suddenly seem willing to consider sensible ideas that were always deemed unthinkable, and to reject foolish notions that were once deemed brilliant. Soon we may be mature enough to observe how other developed countries solved problems that have baffled us for generations.

Nationalizing major banks, temporarily at least, is a radical notion that today looks far more prudent than handing over hundreds of billions of additional dollars to the clowns and crooks who wrecked the financial system. Privatizing Social Security, or turning over another trillion dollars to the Wall Street geniuses whose reckless greed drove us into penury, no longer appears so alluring. Even a few repentant right-wingers — notably including Alan Greenspan, the former “maestro” of money — now gaze dolefully into the mirror and wonder where they went so wrong. (Here’s a hint: the trouble began during those lonely evenings spent perusing the addled works of Ayn Rand.)

So as President Obama convened his “fiscal responsibility summit” and prepared to deliver his first budget, and delivered his first address to Congress, the voices of free-market fundamentalism were muted in Washington, if not on cable television. The anticipated onslaught against Social Security from those claiming to represent future generations did not materialize at the Obama summit – and neither did the presidential capitulation that liberals had feared.

Instead, the White House wonks and the President himself have insisted on discussing the actual threat to America’s future solvency – namely, the swelling price of health care for the retiring generation of baby boomers and its effect on Medicare and Medicaid. “Comprehensive health care reform is the best way to strengthen Medicare for years to come,” said the President in his first address to Congress, when he also promised a “down payment” on the principle of universal coverage.

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