It took Washington by surprise, but some economists had been predicting the economic collapse for nearly a year. Still, when banks began folding and the credit market seized up, the Wall Street house of cards fell down on Main Street. The Dow lurched below 9,000 points, to where it was ten years earlier. It seemed to be the end of an era of greed at the same time that tax dollars were being redirected for fat cats’ golden parachutes and expensive vacations.