During his appearance on Jay Leno last night, in addition to his Special Olympics comment, President Obama made the following remark  about why we need more financial regulation:

“When you buy a toaster, if it explodes in your face, there’s a law that says, you know, your toasters need to be safe. But when you get a credit card, or you get a mortgage, there’s no law on the books that says if that explodes in your face financially, somehow you’re going to be protected.”

In other words, people who purchased houses that they couldn’t afford and ran up debt on their credit cards are mere innocent bystanders when they default on their obligations. This is a rather stunning statement for a president who entered office calling for  “a new era of responsibility…”