2008 was the year the under-regulated market failed and Americans voted for change.

Take a look inside at the policies that shaped the year and the events that shaped an election.

The Best of Public Policy

The Worst of Public Policy

Presidential Election 2008: High, Lows, and Opinion polls

2008 DMI Injustice Index: The Bush Legacy

Eye on the Right

State of the Cities

2008 Reading List: Ten Progressive Reads Worth a Peek

The following exchange between Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve and Congressman Henry A. Waxman, Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, occurred at a hearing of that committee on October 23, 2008.  

Chairman Waxman: [In your statement, you said] “I do have an ideology. My judgment is that free, competitive markets are by far the unrivaled way to organize economies. We have tried regulation, none meaningfully worked." That was your quote. You have the authority to prevent irresponsible lending practices that led to the subprime mortgage crisis. You were advised to do so by many others. Now, our whole economy is paying its price. You feel that your ideology pushed you to make decisions that you wish you had not made?  

Mr. Greenspan: Well, remember… ideology is a conceptual framework with the way people deal with reality. Everyone has one. You have to. To exist, you need an ideology. The question is whether it is accurate or not. What I am saying to you is, yes, I found a flaw… in the model that I perceived is the critical functioning structure that defines how the world works, so to speak.  

Chairman Waxman: In other words, you found that your view of the world, your ideology, was not right, it was not working.  

Mr. Greenspan: Precisely. That's precisely the reason I was shocked.  

Alan Greenspan is shocked. The rest of us are losing our homes, losing our retirement savings, losing our jobs as the result of a conservative ideology that worshipped an infallible market. So ends 2008.  

This year we witnessed bailouts for Wall Street and immunity for telecommunications companies that spied on their customers. We missed opportunities to save homeowners, invest in infrastructure, prevent global warming, and let working people take time off to care for their sick. But from the halls of Congress to City Halls and Statehouses throughout the country, we also saw the beginnings of a renewed appreciation for the positive role the public sector can play in improving people’s lives. Although the federal government was slow to act, Cleveland went after predatory lenders. New York drew the line on labor standards and said bosses couldn’t treat their loyal employees like outside contractors. And California encouraged a more sustainable model for community growth. Congress did the right thing for returning soldiers and took action to help offenders coming out of prison reintegrate with society.. And in November, voters turned out in record numbers for candidates promising an economic approach very different from Alan Greenspan’s.

In this Year in Review, the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy offers a first look back at 2008 through the best and worst of the year’s public policy, on-the-ground stories from five American cities, an idiosyncratic election timeline, a recommended reading list for progressives, a hawk’s eye view of what the think tanks on the conservative right are up to, and our 2008 Injustice Index, with a by-the-numbers appraisal of the Bush legacy.  

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