Yes, accountability is the key. But setting the boundaries that identify what you are accountable for - that is an important part of the process. And, then following with severe consequences for those who cross the boundaries to exploit others. Let’s see what happens to Bernie Madoff or the bankers who broke rules to give themselves bonuses. If the public sees no consequences, then they will never believe in accountability and will demand much stronger regulation.

My point is that Reaganonmics was based on demonizing Government and suggesting that it hurt people and hardly ever helped them (unless it was in the form of the military or police and prisons). Fox News and the Wall Street Journal carried this banner. The Bush gang took this to an extreme and used it to help loot the American taxpayers (no-bid, non-accountable contracts in Iraq, etc.).

Just to be clear - government can easily become dysfunctional. Governments need accountability too.

Among your suggestions, this is most likely to fly with the taxpayers…

This could take the form of a future fee or tax, and could be taken from the proceeds when the house is eventually sold in a similar way to which points are sometimes assessed when a mortgage is originally issued.

There would be some losses for people who sold before the housing market recovers but on the whole this might work.

Of course, a lot of this could have been avoided if Reagan’s toxic anti-government message had never taken root. Government’s do have value. And, one of the most important is to protect the citizens through regulations (one form of regulation is ‘law’). And, this is from me, an ex-Canadian who has seen the worst when Canada was a regulation happy socialist country in the 70s. I still think regulation is very important in finance, medicine and a few other categories that can cost us our lives.