Goldman Sachs is attempting to make-over its greedy image by apologising for that little Global Financial Crisis incident and spending $500 million to help small businesses recover from the recession.
Global Financial Crisis 
The next meltdown is coming in 2012
It may not be the global Apocalypse predicted by certain Hollywood action films, but there will be an epic disaster in 2012, says Paul Farrell: the next big Wall St crash.
How Australia’s economy is kicking America’s arse
Australia’s natural resources, healthy banking sector and equity culture has seen the country virtually skip out on recession while the US struggles to keep its head above water. Elliot Gue casts a jealous eye over Australia’s recent economic performance.
Wal-Mart’s failure is the US writ large
However Wal-Mart’s sales grow, so grows the US economy — and in the past two quarters it’s been a miserable story from the retailer: some store sales have sunk, as overall retail sales have drifted lower.
Kohler: Why China won’t save the world
China’s economic growth will not be a panacea to the world’s financial woes so long as it remains a largely undemocratic state, says Alan Kohler: it isn’t a consumer society, and the export dollars just aren’t there.
graph pr0n 
Charting Nouriel Roubini’s horrible stockmarket calls
Nouriel Roubini is usually credited with predicting the Global Financial Crisis. However, the rest of his prognostications have been all over the place, as this handy graph shows.
The paper dragon: is China’s economic growth a sham?
Conventional wisdom is that China’s surging economy will pull the world out of its economic slump. But what if China’s growth is all a facade? What if the country is “cooking their books”, pumping money into manufacturing and infrastructure for which there is no actual demand?
More, not less, equality needed for economic growth
As Australia moves away from the GFC and focuses more on growth, our economic policies need to aim for equality. More equal incomes means a more stable economy, writes Trevor Cook.
Colebatch: Don’t let the mining boom blow up in our face
Asia’s growth is ensuring the continuation of the Australian mineral boom, but we need to train more workers — since immigration is not popular — and also protect our other industries, argues Tim Colebatch.
G20 dreaming on economic upturn
Finance ministers of the world’s top 20 economies have indulged in one of the more fruitless gabfests. Instead of being united by fear and concern for the slow US economy, they are just linked by their usual competing interests,.
Westpac’s Gail Kelly gives the inside story on banking
Westpac CEO Gail Kelly sits down with Alan Kohler, Robert Gottliebsen and Stephen Bartholomeusz for an in-depth discussion on post-GFC banking, repricing business customers’ loans, and financial regulation.
How we’re still stuck in a Berlin Wall mindset
East and West Germany were the ultimate economic science experiments, a government controlled economy next to a free market, the free market emerging victorious. But is this black and white look at economics what got us into this GFC mess?
Why increased worker productivity is bad for the economy
Worker productivity in the US has jumped dramatically by 9.5% in the last quarter. Employees working harder for less hours, just what the boss wants in a recession, right? Except, morale is down, productivity isn’t sustainable and workers are simply covering their colleagues who’ve been fired.
We’re kidding if we think the GFC scars won’t last
Simon Nasht goes on a world tour of economic carnage caused by the global financial crisis, from Wall Street’s trading floor to abandoned factories in China. Where does the world go to from here?
Government has lowered expectations on labour market success
In its panic the government has over-stimulated the economy and that fiscal mistake is going to have adverse consequences, writes Sinclair Davidson.
Dowd: Rush Limbaugh is immature and narcissistic
Shock jock Rush Limbaugh is one of the key media mouths of the Republican Party and he loves to insult at Obama. Too bad he forgets the actions of his good mate Dubya, because it wasn’t Obama who stuffed the economy or brought about the war in Iraq, notes Maureen Dowd.
Interest rate rise small change for mug punters
Yesterday’s interest rate rise was, in monetary terms, roughly what we spent yesterday per head losing on the Cup. And if we just offset the cost of all the hats and champagne with the lost working hours spent on office sweeps…
Where do economists go from here?
Even with all the great economic minds of the world, we didn’t avoid the global financial crisis. Stephanie Flanders speaks to some major economists about the way forward for world economies and the focus we need on behavioural economics.
Kelly: How next year will unfold for Wayne and Kevin
Avoiding a recession has become both a gift and a burden to the Rudd government, writes Paul Kelly. Expect a battle between managing the economy recovery and spending on big ticket election issues — climate change, health and households. Can Swan reign in spending?
Half of all American kids receive food stamps
It seems that food stamps aren’t just for those in the ghetto. A new study shows half of all US kids will receive food stamps at some time in their childhood. Even more disturbing, 90% of black children will use them.
Which bank? Definitely not a big one.
US investors lost confidence in large banks getting bailed out by the government. Community banks are cashing in and cleaning up, advertising directly to local customers angry about large CEO payouts and irresponsible investing.
Hartcher: Is Swan the anti-Keating?
Wayne Swan is acting a lot more modest over the Australian economy’s GFC rebound than Paul “the recession we had to have” Keating, writes Peter Hartcher. But it’s thanks to Keating and Peter Costello that we avoided further trouble
We’ve passed Wall St, next stop Hang Seng
Australian investors need to stop believing that Wall Street is god of the Australian economy, writes Michael Pascoe. We’ve survived the GFC, even if the US didn’t, and our focus should be on Asia.
revealed 
Goldman Sachs secretly banked on the US housing crash
How did Goldman Sachs emerge from the financial crisis in such good shape? By simultaneously selling more than $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities, while secretly betting that the US housing market would crash.
US pulls itself out of recession, but hold the champagne
US government figures show a growth rate of 3.5% in the third quarter, indicating that the debilitating US recession is no more. Too bad consumer confidence is down and so is faith in Obama’s ability to handle the economy.
