What do we do now?

As markets and businesses take corrective action themselves for the excesses of the past few years, there are things that Congress can do to address some of the root causes:

• Privatize Fannie and Freddie
• Prosecute Corrupt Officials
• Suspend Destructive Accounting Rules
• Repeal the Community Reinvestment Act
• Clean Up the Tax Code

Instead of shoveling more taxpayer money into the bailout hole, Congress should change the government policies that helped create this mess in the first place.

That means privatizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, reforming destructive accounting rules, and getting rid of lending laws that force banks to make bad loans.