You were doing well- interesting, thought provoking- until those last two odd paragraphs.

Blaming "Wall Street financiers" for the current harm to our children is only fair if you profusely thank them for the prior eighteen years of historically-low unemployment. The artificial boom caused by easy money and financial leverage led to enormous job growth (that really shouldn't have been there) which helped innumerable children have a chance at a greater life.

You'd do better focusing on the "child-abusing" parents who borrowed excessively to spend wastefully; left safe jobs for silly, risky start ups; bought homes they couldn't afford; took out mortgages and made investments they didn't understand; never saved for a rainy day; stayed with companies and industries that everyone (who wasn't living in a cave) could see were deteriorating; avoided cultivating family and religious networks that could help ease a bad outcome.

What prompts a parent to put there child's well-being at such risk?

Paul Raeburn
John,
Fair point. I'm far from qualified to sort out whether it was mortgage hustlers or irresponsible borrowers who made the economic mess. My naive guess is that it took both of them to make it happen.

My point in the post was that the economic crisis has implications far beyond what we usually read on the business pages. I wanted to be one voice pointing out that unemployment has potentially drastic consequences for children--whoever is responsible for the financial mess.

Thanks for the comment.