New York Times

FOR the typical American, the past decade has been economically brutal: the first time since the 1930s, according to some calculations, that inflation-adjusted incomes declined. By 2010, real median household income had fallen to $49,445, compared with $53,164 in 2000. While there are many culprits, from declining unionization to the changing mix of needed skills, globalization has had the greatest impact.

Financial Times

Let’s agree that a lot of bad stuff happened along the way to the 2008
financial meltdown and that a good portion of the responsibility can justifiably
be laid at the feet of the Wall Street community. Whether or not laws were
broken, the lack of discipline and inadequate controls around many lending and
risk taking practices certainly merit some version of the vigorous rethink of
the regulatory apparatus that is now in process.

Politico
I can’t speak to the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of much of Ron Suskind’s new book, “Confidence Men,” but based on attending almost daily meetings at the White House during the first six months of the Obama Administration, I can say this: Suskind’s narrative does not resemble my experience working for President Barack Obama, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and National Economic Council Director Larry Summers on the rescue of General Motors and Chrysler.