Has anyone heard conservative critics complain about "socialism" as they watch Uncle Sam partially nationalize some of the nation's big banks with an injection of $250 billion? President Bush announced the desperate move -- which is completely alien to the free marketers of Republican Party -- and stressed that the government's role would be limited and temporary. The move still represents "corporate welfare," long resisted, but now welcome by Bush and his conservative colleagues. The goal is to restore public confidence in our financial system. The dramatic decision to have the public sector buy up part of the private sector ties in with the latest bank rescue plans adopted by European governments.

The two presidential candidates -- Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama -- are working to convince voters that they have the best solution to lead us out of the financial wilderness. Obama proposes to eliminate the income tax on unemployment compensation. He is also offering a 90-day moratorium on housing forfeitures.

Big deal. For millions of jobless, it will take longer than three months to begin paying their delinquent mortgages.

The ball is now in both presidential candidates' court. They have to propose relief for taxpayers, for the auto industry, and many others, to win votes in November. In Detroit -- my hometown and the center of the U.S. auto industry -- unemployment stands at 9 percent. McCain told a rally in Pennsylvania this week that he would use tax cuts to create jobs. He also wants to make tax cuts for the super rich permanent. The candidates should tear a page out of the New Deal blueprint for economic recovery by putting people to work repairing the nation's infrastructure -- roads, bridges, harbors, and schools. The nation also should return to producing saleable items instead of outsourcing production -- and American jobs.

Funny thing is that the privatizers and promoters of the "ownership society" are strangely silent these days. They would be laughed off the stage with their traditional panaceas for the economic debacle we now face. I don't know how many people have told me they are thanking their lucky stars that Bush's plan to privatize Social Security was blocked. As it is, many of the elderly depend on that monthly check for survival.

Unfortunately, neither of the presidential candidates has shown "the way forward," the oft-repeated Bush slogan.

During the New Deal era, people were motivated by their dream of helping revive the promise of America. They came to Washington in droves -- teachers, social workers, engineers and artists. They were recruited for their skills and their dedication. Where are such people now?

Bush can do a lot, even as a lame duck president burdened by low popularity polls. He should think twice about the legacy he is leaving his successor, especially in foreign policy. This is not the time to provoke new confrontations that can only burden a new president. Bush is moving in the right direction by lifting the "terrorist" designation from North Korea and moving to establish a start-up diplomatic relationship with Iran. Perhaps it means that Bush is beginning to realize that leaving the American people with two wars is two too many.

Bush's father, President George Herbert Walker Bush, ordered the invasion of Somalia in 1992 and left incoming President Bill Clinton holding the bag in the middle of a brutal civil war. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Vice President Richard M. Nixon departed their administration with plans for the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba on the drawing board.

Their successor, John F. Kennedy, followed through with the plan to use Cuban defectors against Fidel Castro's Cuba. We all know how that turned out.

To paraphrase philosopher George Santayana: If we do not learn the lessons of the past, we are bound to repeat them in the future. Today we are learning that even in a free society, regulation of business and banks is not only needed, but also indispensable.