Given the sordid state of the markets today, your lighthearted comparison of American and European views of the Wall Street’s woes smacks of reckless abandon (“Transatlantic Model Wars,” September 27, 2008). The current crisis is too serious for little more than word play. Who cares what this or that politician has to say? Capitalism as it has come to pass is at stake. Serious questions abound. Is it really possible that the best the human kind can come up with is the economic system we now seem to espouse? Is our species capable of anything even slightly better? Will we ever reach the heights needed to avoid calamities such as those we now face in fear and loathing? Pompous and overbearing as these questions sound at the moment, they are still much closer to the Wall Street’s current woes than your petty quibbles about the devils and angels of this gloomy day. The remit of your mighty newspaper certainly promises much more. Try harder, for crying out loud!