BOTH PARTIES GET BLAME FOR THE ECONOMIC MESS - NY Post

John Crudele is one of the good guy newspaper reports, who digs for the dirt in business and in politics. This interview with Pete Peterson, former chair of the NY Fed Reserve and now chair of the financial powerhouse Blackstone Group. Peterson actually believes that the current system could fix the problem that our government has created, unfortunately I am more pessimistic on that front, but optimistic that once the system breaks things will improve.

Crudel: In your book, you blame the Republicans, as well as the Democrats. You're a Republican. Can your party be brought back to fiscal responsibility?

Peterson: I always thought my party was about fiscal conservatism. We have morphed into a kind of any-tax-cut-anytime mentality. And some big spenders have joined us in the Republican Party.

Now we have the worst of both worlds fiscally ? the biggest tax cuts and the big spending increases. What's ironic about this is that the most conservative sectors of the Republican Party agree. The Cato Institute refers to this as a "spending explosion."

Dick Armey says we can't pin this one on the Democrats. We're in charge of both the Houses and the White House.

Chuck Hagel, a conservative, says this [Republican] party has lost its moorings.

The Democrats, on the other hand, have never met an entitlement they didn't like. Even though many of them will privately admit that Medicare as now constituted is unsustainable, their principal complaint about the Medicare drug bill is that it doesn't go nearly far enough.

The question is: What can we do about it?

There are two approaches, one far more constructive than the other. First, have a massive truth-telling effort, where the American people really understand what we are inflicting on the future and their kids. Then, bold action by a president who is willing to show leadership.

Both the current and the previous presidents set up Social Security commissions and then proceeded to flush them.