Clean coal? And Those 'Predator Lenders'

Kevin Maney writes: There's nothing like a glass of wine and a vice-presidential debate to pass the evening. They didn't talk much about technology -- except...what about this "clean coal technology" thing? Darn if I've never heard of it. Sounds sort of like calling Cap'n Crunch "part of a healthy breakfast" or saying financial institutions have "voluntary regulations." Because burning coal is, you know, generally considered really nasty for the environment.

But Joe Biden talked about it a lot in the debate last night. "China is building one to three new coal-fired plants burning dirty coal per week," he said. "It's polluting not only the atmosphere but the West Coast of the United States. We should export the technology by investing in clean coal technology."

So I looked it up in that font of all knowledge, Wikipedia. And it seems a little controversial. Like, we're burning coal, but scrubbing up the emissions. Some say it's real, and some say it's just coal people putting -- what's that phrase? -- lipstick on a pig. And it might not be ready for another 10 or 15 years, by which point Las Vegas will be a coastal town. Why is Biden so gung-ho on this? Any chance it has to do with coal-rich Pennsylvania, where he's from? Isn't nuclear a better bet?

While we're on the veep debates -- thanks to Sarah Palin, I'm now not quite clear who's to blame for the mess in the financial markets. In a single answer, Palin started out blaming "predator lenders." Then she said we need to band together to make sure the Feds have "strict oversight of those entities in charge of our investments and our savings" -- which would imply that Wall Street and bankers and lame federal agencies are to blame. Then finally she said all of us regular folks need to straighten up and take "personal responsibility" for our debts -- implying that we share responsibility.

Her full answer below.

QUESTION: Now, let's talk about -- the next question is to talk about the subprime lending meltdown. Who do you think was at fault? I start with you, Governor Palin. Was it the greedy lenders? Was it the risky home-buyers who shouldn't have been buying a home in the first place? And what should you be doing about it?

PALIN: Darn right it was the predator lenders, who tried to talk Americans into thinking that it was smart to buy a $300,000 house if we could only afford a $100,000 house. There was deception there, and there was greed and there is corruption on Wall Street. And we need to stop that.

Again, John McCain and I, that commitment that we have made, and we're going to follow through on that, getting rid of that corruption.

One thing that Americans do at this time, also, though, is let's commit ourselves just every day American people, Joe Six Pack, hockey moms across the nation, I think we need to band together and say never again. Never will we be exploited and taken advantage of again by those who are managing our money and loaning us these dollars. We need to make sure that we demand from the federal government strict oversight of those entities in charge of our investments and our savings and we need also to not get ourselves in debt. Let's do what our parents told us before we probably even got that first credit card. Don't live outside of our means. We need to make sure that as individuals we're taking personal responsibility through all of this. It's not the American peoples fault that the economy is hurting like it is, but we have an opportunity to learn a heck of a lot of good lessons through this and say never again will we be taken advantage of.

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