"a casino run by idiots and thieves"

I spotted a link to this column in Chronicle of Higher Education over at Chávezian Airspace. It's worth your time:

With all the economic pain and consternation — surging unemployment, enormous corporate bankruptcy, trillions becoming the new billions — it's easy to overlook the fact that tens of thousands of families have suddenly lost a great deal of the money they socked away to pay for college. They lost it because public officials told them to risk their children's educational future in a casino run by idiots and thieves. Those officials did that because it was a way for them to score easy political points, avoid hard choices, and generally feel good about themselves. I know — for a little while, I was one of them.

I refer to "529 plans," the tax-deferred savings vehicles named for the section of the tax code that defines them