Interesting WSJ interview with Nouriel Roubini, the man who saw the crash coming and tried to sound the alarm: "Again, I don't want to personalize things, but the last decade was one of self-regulation. But in the financial markets, without proper institutional rules, there's the law of the jungle -...

Ok, so the Teacher And Firefighter Job-Preservation Act of 2009 is now law. Last week, President Obama told us that starting today, the stimulus would immediately speed saving succor to the US economy, using metaphors that suggested the stanching of an open wound. Are you feeling stimulated? A more ...

Early Monday Morning News Roundup The stimulus package has passed the House and the Senate and awaits the president’s signature. If you think the fight over the stimulus package is over, you’re wrong. There’s plenty more fighting to do. As Obama and his administration begin to lo...

[This post ended up being pretty long, so grab a coffee.] Generally, I’m remiss to question the brilliant writing of Frank Rich, but his column this week erects political grave stones far too early for my tastes.  Concerning Obama’s victory on the stimulus bill, Rich says: The G.O.P. do...

Sir Brian Bender's behaviour is typical of Labour's cosy relationship with big business says Simon Heffer....

Yesterday saw representatives from the UK’s financial journalism industry give evidence to a House of Commons Treasury Committee inquiry into the banking crisis. So what conclusions were drawn about the media’s ‘role’ in the crisis? A fairly resounding ‘it wasn’t ...

Dr. Black graciously asks: Am I the only to whom it's occurred that monetary policy through the banking channel (as opposed to, say, actually dropping money from helicopters) is only likely to be effective if banks are pretty good at allocating capital efficiently, and recent history tells us that t...

One of the most critical problems facing the US economy is the “credit crunch,” which shows up as an extreme reluctance by banks and other financial intermediaries to lend money. Without a normal flow of credit, no sector of the economy can function up to its capacity, and that of course...

I have written here on BiggerPockets extensively on the complete lopsidedness of the banking bailout and how the preference was given early on to helping Wall Street fat-cats over Main Street foreclosure victims. The bailout bill created the Trouble Asset Relief Program (TARP), funded it with $750 B...

An increasingly upset Mr. Cheney stated categorically that Mr. Wallace, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary and Bill Clinton, Caroline Kennedy, and even Paris Hilton could all go “bleep” themselves. Although such enthusiastic support for onanistic love comes during the twilight of his publi...