I used to like Lou Dobbs. Years and years ago however. This was back when he did the nightly business report on CNN, before he left CNN to found Space.com and before he came back to CNN.

And then something happened. Not sure if it was around the time of September 11th, 2001. But Lou Dobbs decided to take a anti-immigration stand - and his opinions could be counted on to contain a certain amount of Xenophobia (fear of non-Americans bascially). Now he wouldn't say he's anti-immigrant, that he's in fact anti-illegal immigrant. But if you add together his proposals for a stronger border, a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, shipping the illegals back home (he's opposed to amnesty), against giving health care and drivers licenses to illegal immigrants already here, anti-free trade, anti-H1B visa program, anti-China trade, and on and on...

He's as protectionist as it comes most times, and most economists will tell you that protectionist policies are actually against America's best interests most times.

So anyways, one thing I like about Lou is that he's not shy to place the blame at the feet of politicians (of any political party) who are shirking their responsibilty in Washington. Today's column on the impending (and probably unstoppable) economic disaster, however, is spot-on.

Well done Lou. I rarely agree with you lately. But no one (in an election year at least) wants to stand up and say the politicians took their eye off the ball the last 3-4 years and now our economy is in big trouble. They all would prefer to delay the bad news (even if it makes it worse) til 2009 when the next President has been decided. That's all their interested in dealing with this year - partisan politics.