Financial Times
MF Global is not the first firm to be done in by bad bets in the casino known as Wall Street, nor will it be the last. With many questions still unanswered – perhaps most importantly what exactly happened to the $630m of customer money that was required to remain in segregated accounts – attempting to divine the meaning of its collapse may
be premature. But a first rough draft of the meteoric history of the brokerage company offers a few lessons and timely reminders.
New York Times
Here’s the critical takeaway from last week’s European rescue plan: Nothing in it addresses the endemic economic weaknesses that nearly propelled the euro zone into a meltdown.
Financial Times
Eurobonds. EFSF. IMF austerity. ESM. Budgetary rules. A European finance minister. So many wonky ideas for saving the single currency swirling as pressure mounts on the eurozone’s leaders to find a solution at this weekend’s summit. Unusually, senior US policymakers have also weighed in, urging boldness and the American policy tools of 2008 on their European counterparts.
“[a] surprisingly modest account…Rattner has a journalistic talent for the telling detail, resulting in a memorable tale of life in the middle of the economic meltdown...Rattner deftly draws portraits of the inhabitants of "the Oval" and the West Wing...Rattner has proved himself a gifted chronicler.”
-Time Magazine
