One of the oddest elements of the meltdown until this week was that neither presidential candidate had done much to adjust his economic policies. Then, during the second debate on Tuesday night, John McCain made the surprise announcement that he would buy up America’s bad mortgages and renegotiate their payment schedules directly.

It may have been good politics. But the Republican candidate left it fairly late in the day to reverse the small-government principles that had hitherto underpinned the economic portion of his campaign.