“It is true that the belief in both tighter bank regulation and a larger welfare state cluster on the left, but if social democracy is some sort of preventative cure-all, how come the US economy is outperforming places like Denmark, Sweden, and Germany, not to mention the OECD as a whole? Why, if the problem is “American style capitalism”, are the biggest GDP declines found elsewhere?  I understand that the left finds it politically convenient to link the uninsured and the banking crisis, but this seems only very slightly less silly than blaming it on gay marriage–indeed, looking at the countries worst effected, the latter’s correlation seems stronger.” — Megan McArdle, blogging in The Atlantic