80 years since the Great CrashIt’s the 80th anniversary of the Great Wall St Crash and the beginning of the Great Depression. Steve Keen looks at what we’ve learned — if anything — eight decades on.
Wall street crash
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.
Kohler: Politicians are dragging us down
The world’s politicians are uncoordinated and applying a wide variety of different coloured band-aids to the financial system, writes Alan Kohler.
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.
Albrechtsen: recycling right wing drivel
News Ltd has its very own Albrechtsen Unit, the length of time – usually two to three weeks – that it takes to recycle some right-wing drivel from foreign commentators, writes Bernard Keane.
Putting the meltdown before the meltdown: our choice
the system will stay relatively unchanged because too much depends on it and because money and power have little respect, in the end, for principle, writes Mark Davis.
Wall Street Crash: journalism’s first draft of history
Reading the international op-ed pages over recent days is a reminder of the essence and relevance of the journalism of ideas, writes Eric Beecher.
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.
“Wall Street is Dead”: pick of the US commentary
Wall Street is dead … Killed by malice or incompetence? … Excerpts from House speaker Pelosi’s speech … Delay stuns the street … Looking for hope … Why did the bail-out bill fail? … A testament to ineptitude … Bailout ushers in the era of Obama.
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.
Mungo: Not even Kevin 747 can outfly climate catastrophe
The idea, apparently, is that global warming will simply stop happening until we’re ready to deal with it, writes Mungo MacCallum.
Swan’s timely intervention just what the market ordered
The Federal government now stands ready to provide up to $4 billion in credit to back prime mortgages, write Joshua Gans and Christopher Joye.
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.
At White House, McCain plays bailout spoiler
The Huffington Post reports that John McCain was one of the only key players not to come to agreement with the government’s bailout plan.
Kohler: Paulson’s plan is just the beginning
America’s intellectual and financial capital will be tested as never before, writes Alan Kohler.
America’s bailout plan: The doctor’s bill
The Economist reports on the chairman of the Federal Reserve and the treasury secretary briefing to Congress which gives a gloomy prognosis for the economy, and proposes a drastic remedy.
Analysis: What actually happened yesterday
Writing in Time’s Swampland blog, Joe Klein says John McCain’s handling of the current bailout negotiations and the decision to suspend his campaign point to a lack of measured response to times of crisis:
“John McCain faced another crisis yesterday — a political one, not the financial emergency he used as an excuse for his rash actions — and once […]
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.
Kohler: A slap for hysterical markets
Barney Frank is giving Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke a torrid time over the Paulson bail-out plan, writes Alan Kohler.
Lehman Brothers and the prophecies of doom
Think that Lehman’s collapse was due to its balance sheet’s reliance on repackaged sub-prime mortgages? Think again, writes Michael Feller.
George Bush: proof there is life on Mars
Americans are more convinced that communication with the dead is possible than that Bush is doing a good job, writes Jeff Sparrow.
