i'm sorry, but i must love anyone who writes something like this.

it speaks to a lot of the things i've been talking and thinking about lately.

spitzer and celli write that "in our system, the market is there to serve our values, not the other way around." what a groundbreaking idea for the democratic party - or anyone - to embrace: that allowing people to amass wealth unfettered is not our highest value. it's not even a value!

on the victims of predatory lending, they say: "What distinguishes them from borrowers who get credit at the right price, on the right terms, is their actual and perceived lack of options, their limited financial savvy, and, too often, the color of their skin--and sometimes their age or gender." it's the same thing that separates those who take exploitative jobs at wal-mart from those who take other unskilled or entry level jobs. big companies can take advantage of these people because they make them believe they're not worth any more than that. the only reason we let them do it is because the freedom to amass wealth is our highest value.

the article cites a wonderful line from teddy roosevelt, the original cowboy president: "We grudge no man a fortune which represents his own power and sagacity, when exercised with entire regard to the welfare of his fellows." this should be the dems' stated and celebrated value for guiding our economic policy. this is one place where they can out-moral bush.