What caused the recession?

Unfotunately, a more accurate statement is probably that they are elected and re-elected by the small percentage of people who bother to vote. A much larger percentage of the electorate could vote if they chose to do so.:)

True. The Australian system of compulsory voting might not be a bad idea for the USA. I wonder if there would be as much opposition to that idea as there is to health care.

I wonder if compulsory voting would cause the average voter to be better informed about the issues and positions of the candidates.

Probably not. One could argue that government in a democracy is supposed to be representative of all the people, and that should include lazy, unmotivated, and uninformed people. But I am more concerned about those who are unable to get to the polls and vote because they are poor, sick, disabled, lacking transportation, etc. (or who are unmotivated and uninformed for those very same resons).

Heck, being dead or non-existent didn't stop some of the voters in Chicago or Florida.

Chip

Now when I was growing up, we were too poor to afford a room. We lived in a shoe box by the side of the road. I had to walk 150 miles a day in 25 foot snow drifts to get to school. That was really hard, since I was blind and had no legs, but I learned to walk on my hands and carry my books in my teeth. See, my father cut my legs off when I was a baby, so I'd fit into the shoe box with the rest of the family, and my mother poked my eyes out with a fork because she didn't want me to see the way we lived. Still, as soon as I came of age, I managed to vote in every single election. As a matter of fact, I voted twice whenever I could! I still vote for my dear Granny. I got paid barely nothing, but I saved every penny, and now I live in a mansion overlooking Malibu :-)

Nah... Michael Hudson said it all at

I wonder how the Australians handle that problem. I know they are very serious about all citizens voting because they tracked my business partner down and sent a form that he had to return explaining why he had not voted and he had been in the U.S. for seven years at that time.

-- Ron

In short, Keynesianism.

Or, longer:

- the Fed doesn't understand how easy credit creates instability.

- the Fed chose to put a band-aid on the 2000 recession by making credit easily available resulting in inflated asset prices, specifically, housing.

- the Fed is trying to throw easy money after bad in the pyre that it created in 2000, leading to inflated asset prices, specifically, stocks.

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