here to weigh in on this and other economic issues is reuters columnist beth mcclean. here or somewhere else. >> still right here. >> eliot: we'll figure that out. >> all the devils are right here. >> eliot: let's go through the points that judge posner made. one, deregulation failed. yet, he was to a certain extent the intellectual actor architect of deregulation. >> well, you have to give huge kudos for him to be willing to rethink his previous position. that's a definition of brilliance, to change your mind when the facts change. many are not willing to do so. that's impressive, i think. in ways that capitalism was supposed to function was a race to the stop. if you were producing a battered defective oh were duct then you were supposed to be squeezed out of the market. but when you look at mortgage lending to investment banks and credit rating it was an opposite, a race to the bottom. i don't pretend to understand why the reality was so different than the theory. but the evidence is undeniable, and in order to continue to produce profits and please shareholders who