There’s a reason why the founding fathers put the seat of government in a remote city that was basically built on a swamp.

Washington, D.C. proved again in recent days that it was very smart to keep the political capital of the nation and its economic epicenter — first Philadelphia, then New York — at arms length.

Moving the capital of capitalism to Washington was by any measure a complete disaster even though it was just for a few days and just for a single purpose — to craft and pass bailout legislation.

At press time, there were signs that Wall Street would again command the heights of finance in the United States. On the assumption that nobody would be dumb enough to stage another stock market catastrophe, here’s my top 10 list of things to watch as we move beyond the bailout follies.