Where do we begin solving the financial crisis?

After a big, impressive meeting in Washington, twenty representatives of the leading economic countries in the world didn’t bring anything new on the table. Of course, with Bush on his way out and Obama not ready yet to fully participate in the debate, no one expected a landmark decision following that get together. Yet, I believe in simple solutions to most problems and there’s one thing that should be agreed upon in this financial realm; it could go like this: “Thou shall play no games.” Investment and financial undertaking should be positive and discourage nefarious speculation like short-selling, derivatives, betting on others’ demise (CDS) when one has no underlying interest and “products” that aren’t positive or fully transparent. That toolbox of tricks is a huge parasite on society and doesn’t contribute to creating wealth. Had our bright twenty participants only stated that, they would have contributed to cleaning up 90% of what has caused the mess we’re in at present, but did I say that “courage” was part of most politicians’ attributes?