[W]e continue to see one example after another of what suspicious readers may be tempted to view as the Big Lie: that deregulation or other obliging government measures caused the present economic mess. I won't go so far as to characterize this claim as a Big Lie. Although some of its purveyors, acting out of partisan motives, surely know that they are blowing smoke, others may simply suffer from economic ignorance, analytical confusion, or loss of historical memory. In any event, the public is ill-served by commentators who purport to speak with authority about our current economic troubles, yet merely peddle this worse-than-sophomoric tale. - Jeff Pratt