Historically, when Congress is in session the stock market pulls back. When Congress is not in session the stock market does well. During this economic meltdown mess, Congress has remained in session and the stock market is oversensitive to everything. Coupled with an outgoing president in a hurry to make a legacy, and an incoming president bent on changing everything, at best, our economic future looks bleak. Particularly, when Congress is about to go into high gear lawmaking.

Our elected government representatives are always running for re-election, so they feel they must do something all the time. For the most part, when our representatives are addicted to making laws, it's generally bad for us. What they ought to be doing is nothing, other than reviewing all the laws on the books and repealing those that hurt us, or are simply unnecessary. State governments should do the same. Indeed, that's the way to resolve our social, political and economic problems. Government seldom solves problems. Government creates problems.

Even when Congress isn't making laws, it created problems from previous bad law, which was the root of the economic meltdown.

In September 2003, Frank, then the ranking Democrat on the Republican-led Financial Services Committee, opposed Bush administration proposals for transferring oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by creating an independent agency to supervise. The proposal would have moved oversight from Congress and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to the new agency. Frank stated in 2003, "The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing." Frank stated that the bill would potentially "weaken the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing."

Essentially, three main culprits caused the economic meltdown:

First, there is President Jimmy Carter's 1977 Community Reinvestment Act, which set the tone for putting people in homes they could not afford. Second is President Bill Clinton, his HUD Secretary, Andrew Cuomo, and Attorney General Janet Reno who used the CRA to threaten banks and mortgage lenders to make risky home loans. And third, Rep. Barney Frank, Sen. Chris Dodd, and Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines who defended Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac when they knew there was massive mortgage risk and unaccountability.

All the other players simply aided and abetted the problem by doing little or nothing to stop it, or exacerbated the problem out of greed and opportunity. The point is, you can't grow noxious vines without planting the seeds, watering them, feeding them, then letting them grow uncontrollably.