These times are so different than it was back in the day. We trusted our leaders to do the right thing; we trusted them to lead us; we thought they cared about us and we had hope. Now we face our politicians with skepticism, knowing in all likelihood that it’s all talk and we plan for a future in spite of them. Sadly, Roosevelt could not get elected today.

FDR’s words still ring true, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. Because fear is what is fanning the flames right now on Wall Street and abroad. Panic caused the big run on banks in the Great Depression. What I admired about Franklin Roosevelt is the programs he created through is New Deal initiative that helped bring the U.S. out of the depression. Such as the Home Owners Loan Corp. Hillary Clinton recently suggested that the Treasury Department buy the mortgages of homeowners in financial trouble and replace them with more affordable loans. John McCain then picked up on that and proposed during Tuesday’s debate that $300 billion be authorized to do just that.

Andrea: All times are different from other times because change is always taking place. During Roosevelt’s reign there were many who viewed his policies with distain, but he had the masses in the palm of his hand; he knew how to reach them and how to make them feel they were in safe and capable hands. He was for many a wise father that would guide them through the depression and through the war. In collaborating with Stalin, he made common cause with an indisputably evil figure. Yet this pact with the devil destroyed the murderous Hitler while vaulting the United States to a position of unquestioned global economic supremacy. Yet, he has been criticized for being taken in by Stalin. Today we have a choice once again to vote a new president into office and I, for one, feel a great surge of hope in giving Obama that chance. I think he cares deeply about doing the best job possible for this country and its people; I trust that he will follow through. I don’t say this lightly, nor do I say this blindly. I say this out of conviction. I have seen many presidents come and go; I think he will make an extraordinary one. He will blunder as all presidents do, but he will learn from the blunders just as Kennedy did with the Bay of Pigs and that mistake happened early on his watch. If I’m wrong about all this then I’ll eat crow for years to come––the feathers preventing me from spouting off ever again.

I wasn’t around in FDR times. I don’t know how he was. I do know that we have things so messed up. Anyone that has a brain I would think they would say, “You messed things up. Government is not here to bail you out. Figure it out!”

Joan, are you saying that ‘we the people’ messed up’? That we are responsible for the failure of enforcing the laws and rules on the books, for the SEC, for instance? Or that ‘we’ voted in this President? and that it really wasn;t a Supreme court decision? and that ‘we’ gave Coprations tax incentives, instead of the GOP Congress, to move out of the counrtry? or that ‘we’ the people are the ones that are responsilbe for concocting the bizarre predatory lending scheme? Or that ‘we’ the people declared war on Iraq? Please clarify.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Former President Jimmy Carter said on Friday the “atrocious economic policies” of the Bush administration had caused the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Carter told reporters on a stopover in Brussels that “profligate spending,” massive borrowing and dramatic tax cuts since President George W. Bush took office in 2001 were behind the market turmoil and economic crisis. “I think it’s because of the atrocious economic policies of the Bush administration,” said the 84-year-old Democrat, who served in the White House from 1977-1981 during a period of high inflation and energy crisis. Whoever wins next month’s U.S. presidential election would inherit economic problems that would force them to postpone implementing some of their proposed reforms, he said. “The economic situation is an entrenched problem. It is going to take years to correct what has been done economically,” Carter said, adding he hoped Democrat Barrack Obama would win and immediately improve Washington’s image in the world. Eight years ago, the United States had a budget surplus, low inflation and a stable, strong economy, he said. Carter said he was astonished that the United States now owed China “in the neighborhood of $1 trillion.” Deregulation and what he called a withdrawal of supervision of Wall Street had encouraged irresponsible elements in the U.S. financial system, enabling banks to borrow 30 times their value. Carter was on his way back from a private peace mission to Cyprus with fellow elder statesmen Lakhdar Brahimi of Algeria and Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, intended to give a push to talks between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders on a settlement to reunite the divided island. (Reporting by Paul Taylor; editing by Sami Aboudi) © Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved