brssharma, if we are looking for the single biggest reason for this mess, you are right, it is the congress. They are well on their way to making themselves irrelevant. I find it amazing that the same set of politicians (especially Dems) who voted for the war are now against it.

If I am not mistaken, the employer withholding of taxes, social security, employer sponsored medical plans all happened at pretty much at the same time in response to certain stresses imposed on the system. These stresses have been removed/subsided for a long time now, but these plans still remain. I am afraid the same will happen for new laws implemented after 9/11. The government has already encroached on the domain of personal responsibility. Now they are engaging in wealth distribution (bailouts). What next, a list of approved words to use in our vocabulary?