I hope there's still a debate tomorrow.

( Cut for those who are sick of politics )

In other areas, one of my friends described some of the practices that got deregulated Wall Street into bailout territory again (leverage, credit-default-swaps, etc) as "financial power tools."  The implication being, I think, that the only people who get into trouble with them are Joe and Jane Six-Pack out in the garage-- people who don't know how to use them or don't have the patience and caution to use them properly.

I will note that the people who got into trouble with the "financial power tools" are the cream of the crop--the very best of the best that Wall Street had to offer, not Joe and Jane Six-Pack at the broker (though they may very well get hurt too).  And yet it still turns out that they must be taken to the hospital, at public expense, to have their financial feet sewn back on every decade or two.

On the other hand, I know a shop teacher who uses real power tools every day of his life.  I bet he's been teaching shop for 40 years.  And he has all his extremities--no stitch marks.  Real power tools don't necessarily mean you have to have your limbs sewn back on several times in a lifetime.

I don't think "financial power tools" gives the right impression.  I think "financial russian roulette" comes closer.