Goldman Sachs: Probably the most heated analysis yet on the economic crisis of 2009. The story has gained little traction in the mainstream media. Rolling Stone star author, Matt Taibbi, has been vilified for “his ridiculous leaps in logic” and, more famously, has been dismissed as “The Sarah Palin of journalism.”  see , see

The Housing Bubble – Part 2:  From 2001 through 2007, Americans withdrew $4 trillion of equity from their homes and artificially made their economy appear stronger than it was. Without this withdrawal, GDP would have hovered between -1% and +1% over the entire time. The Bush tax cuts and rebates did not create a strong economy. Borrowing and spending led the way. Now, more unraveling must follow.  Owner equity has plunged from 60% to 43%. see

Bad Economy Caused by Bad Politics:  Salon essay on the U.S.’s Third World approach to political and economic reform. “Despite the gorging on public funds by the very oligarchs (government owners) who caused the financial crisis, the predominant sentiment from our establishment media now is that Obama needs to force ordinary Americans to "sacrifice more."   see

Looting America:  Excerpt from Les Leopold's The Looting of America.  Detailed analysis of the sales pitch used on one Wisconsin school district to convince its Board to invest $165 million in high speculative CDO’s in 2006 and 2007.  The Wall Street financial structure ran through Canada, Ireland, and Germany, and it stripped the school district of many of its assests. see

Bill Moyers on the Economy:  William K. Black interview that claims financial crisis is more than greed and incompetence – it is outright fraud. William K. Black was a former senior regulator who 1980s savings and loan scandals. The Associate Professor of Economics says fraud is at the core of both the Bush’s and the Obama’s approach to the problem. see

U.S. Financial Sector: Simon Johnson’s penetrating analysis of Wall Street’s structural problems and the Depression they caused in 2008. He says the political balance of power gives the financial sector a veto over public policy, even as that sector loses popular support. The solution?  Nationalize troubled banks and break them up as necessary.  see

Review of Niall Ferguson’s New Book: The New York Times review of this important 2008 release, The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World. This is a solid history of the rise of the modern capitalism that ends with the prescient question – “Are we on the brink of a ‘great dying’ in the financial world,” Mr. Ferguson asks, “one of those mass extinctions of species that have occurred periodically.” see

Bankruptcy – 60% Medical:  A recent Harvard University study showed that 62% of all personal bankruptcies in 2007 came from medical bills, an amount than included the insured, the underinsured, and the non-insured. “Private health insurance is a defective product,” said one researcher. “It’s like an umbrella that melts in the rain.” see  , see

It’s the economy, Stupid! Perspectives on the U.S. economy, 1920 – 2010. The long view on one chart. see

Winners and Losers: Reshaping America’s Cities: Thoughtful discussion of how the 2008 Recession will affect the country’s urban areas. Author argues it will reshape America’s suburbs and transform home ownership patterns, creating a nation of renters in large high-density mega-metro centers. The downturn will have an lasting affect on the settlement patterns  and ownership patterns of America’s cities, suburbs, and its countryside. see 

Charting the U.S. Consumer: One reason the latest bailout plan hasn't worked yet? Banks have finally decided (temporarily) not to lend money to folks that can't pay them back. That would be US consumers--the customers who account for 70% of the spending in the economy. see

World’s Debt: Who Has the Most? Data from The International Monetary suggests Japan has the highest positive income at US $2,892 Billion. Similarly, the US economy is $1,594 Billion. At the other side of the spectrum, Great Britain’s income to debt ratio is a US -$7,677 Billion, and that of France is -$1,890 Billion. The US does not fare quite as bad as imagined, comparatively. see

Who’s to Blame? The Guardian lists the 25 people at the heart the current economic crisis, the worst economic turmoil since the Great Depression. The decision makers who led the world economy to the brink include both politicians and financiers. The key players on both sides of the Atlantic are briefly profiled.  see , see

Health Care Costs: In the U.S., insurance companies have profited most from the increase in health care costs. Premiums have gone up over the past six years by more than 87 percent, on average, while profits at ten of the largest publicly traded health insurance companies rose 428 percent from 2000 to 2007. Consolidation is the biggest problem. In one state, Blue Cross Blue Shield controls 83 percent of the statewide market. see

Economy ala Marxist Theory:  Trenchant video lecture of the American economic crisis by Marxist theorist Rick Wolff, economist from the University of Massachusetts. The first half of the video is especially prescient about the roots of the breakdown of the American economy 1970 to 2008. The second half makes recommendations about correcting the imbalances. see

Mandelbrot and Credit Default Swaps: A very good history of the Credit Default Swap market, 1998 to 2008 by CBS’s 60 Minutes. Twelve minutes summary of how Credit Default Swap legislation permitted the financial industry to grow beyond its means to repay. see

Comparing Japan’s Crisis: Tough analysis of the U.S. financial collapse and its similarity to Japan’s collapse during the 1990s. Author claims the current stimulus and bailout packages will not work and recommends imprudent banks, auto manufacturers, and other speculators be allowed to collapse. Says America can not spend its way out of a debt crisis. see

The Financial Formula that brought down the global economy. Math wizard David X. Li – archetypal Wall Street quant – invented a simple and elegant mathematical formula. For five years, Li's formula, known as a Gaussian copula function, looked like an unambiguously positive breakthrough. see  

World Money Supply in Trouble: Globalization has been based on an unbalanced economic model. So far public and private consumption in the United States have driven world demand. And China’s artificial exchange rate can no longer be sustained. Yet if China lowers it, Chinese exports would collapse and most Chinese factories would have to shut down and lay off workers. see

It’s the Boomers’ Fault: The Baby Boom Generation’s claim to fame is living beyond its means for the last three decades: they’ve virtually bankrupted our capitalist system. The Boomer generation has freely made choices over the last quarter century that has brought us to the brink of a second Great Depression. Beginning in 1982, Baby Boomers chose to take the easy road. Saving, investing and living within your means were cast aside as “Old School”. Boomers were handed a better future through the blood, sweat and tears of the “Greatest Generation”. Through their hubris, they’ve squandered that better future, the future of their children and imperiled our entire capitalist system. see

Merrill Lynch Disaster – An Inside Look: New York Times study of how one of the  U.S.’s financial giants had overplayed its cards, built on shaky mortgages. “We have auctioned billions in credit-default swap positions in our C.D.O. liquidation business,” a spokesman said, “and what we have learned is that the carnage we are witnessing now would have been much more contained, to use that overworked word, without credit-default swaps.” see

U.S. Banks: This is a list of all the banks in the U.S. at the end of 2008. It rates banks on the strength of their books, rating their financial outlook for the next year from worst to best.  see   

Shopping Malls: The next big bust. The 1,120,000 lost US retail jobs in 2008 are a signal that the second stage of the real estate bust is about to hit the economy. This time it will be commercial real estate -- shopping malls, strip malls, warehouses, and office buildings. As businesses close and rents decline, the ability to service the mortgages on the over-built commercial real estate disappears. see , see

Economy ala Rolling Stone:  Trenchant analysis of the economic crisis with a focus on the AIG Financial Group and the assumptions they made about the housing market.  “By creating a crisis that can only be solved by those fluent in a language too complex for ordinary people to understand, the Wall Street crowd has turned the vast majority of Americans into non-participants in their own political future.” see