When economic turmoil is so severe, it really ought to be considered as a key factor in environmental policy decisions. For example, how can a economic/political system teetering on collapse be relied upon to maintain nuclear power plants? Apparently last September the whole global economony almost went south – and we’re still not out of the woods either:

From Daily Kos:

According to Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D) (PA-11), in mid-September of 2008, the United States of America came just three hours away from the collapse of the entire economy. In a span of 2 hours, $550 billion was drawn out of money market accounts in an electronic run on the banks.

Rep. Kanjorski: “It would have been the end of our economic system and our political system as we know it.”

Read the article and also see the revealing video testimony of Rep. Kanjorski: Daily Kos: USA was 3 hrs away from Economic, Political Collapse in September 2008.