Page Perry

Mainstream USAToday editors expressed amazement over the “just say no” partisanship of the Republican party and the unnecessarily long and contentious battle to pass the financial reform package (“Mindless partisanship mars passage of banking reform,” July 16, 2010). The editors had though that “the worst financial meltdown since the Depression” would have provided sufficient motivation to rise above the partisan excess that was unfortunately displayed. For instance, they thought that the “chastened banks” would accept change. “But that’s not quite how things worked out. After a few weeks of remorse, Wall Street got its swagger back and fought like mad to preserve its profits.”