Instead of letting private and public balance sheets readjust after the sixteen year boom, governments have collectively panicked, writes Adam Schwab
Bailout plan
High-risk investments turn bad in Colombia
The natural desire to help people who may have lost their life savings needs to be balanced against the fact of moral hazard: that by decreasing the cost of foolishness, you will increase its supply, writes Charles Richardson.
Kohler: Pawning the global economy
Yes, the world’s governments did well to save the banking system from catastrophe, but it was already too late to save the economy, writes Alan Kohler.
The methane time bomb and the Wall St meltdown
People need leaders who will place the life and future of humans and other species ahead of the three-years election cycle, writes Dr Andrew Glikson.
Hold your nerve for some great buying opportunities
It is important to stress that no-one outside of Iceland has yet lost any money on deposit as government guarantees rain down upon the global banking system, writes Stephen Mayne.
Consumer credit numbers show the US economy is in free fall
It’s now clear that the US economy is in far worse shape than even thought yesterday, writes Glenn Dyer.
Bailout round 2: Senate to vote today
The US Senate will vote on a revised bailout bill today Australian time, reports Politico.
Bailout round 2: The changes explained
As the US Senate prepares to vote on the second version of the Wall Street bailout bill, the Wall Street Journal reports that changes to the bill, including an increase to federal deposit insurance limits and several tax breaks, are expected to see it pass.
There is no evidence of human-induced financial crisis
There is no evidence of a human-induced financial crisis, regardless of the hysterical claims advanced in trendy films like Al Gore’s Inconvenient Loot, write Bernard Keane and David Howarth.
Faris: Capitalism cannot be beaten
The Left are correct in describing this as a crisis of capitalism – but the truth is that capitalism will survive, writes Peter Faris.
I’ll see your sunny uplands, and raise you a free market
If anything, the crisis demonstrates that even the most brilliant financial engineers can’t defy basic economic laws for very long, writes Bernard Keane.
Gottliebsen: Hazards beyond the rally
The US market clearly got the message that their recalcitrant Congress members now understood they had done a silly thing and would pass the bailout later in the week, writes Robert Gottliebsen.
Banking crisis: How many more will have to be saved?
“Such is now the scale of the global banking crisis that news that once would have been counted as sensational – the nationalisation of Bradford & Bingley – now barely passes the “so what” test,” writes Jeremy Warner in The Independent.
Europe taking heavy blows as credit crunch continues
The US bailout plan may or may not be resurrected, but the focus of the credit crisis is now on Europe, writes Glenn Dyer.
China? Fortunately there is another bailout underway
America has a very serious influenza, but the rest of the world is only sneezing. That’s the amazing news, writes Michael Pascoe.
Money Talks
As political theatre, the wrangling over the Wall Street rescue package is engrossing. As an exercise in crisis management, it is potentially disastrous—and, to the rest of the world, dumbfounding.
Kohler: Paulson’s plan is just the beginning
America’s intellectual and financial capital will be tested as never before, writes Alan Kohler.
Steve Keen: Paulson’s plan is like bailing the Titanic with a thimble
While $700 billion sounds like big bikkies, it’s chicken feed compared to the scale of outstanding private debt in the USA of $41 trillion, writes Steve Keen.
Morning Market Report
The highlights and lowlights of this morning’s sharemarket activity.
