Health Care, Abortion, and the Foot in the Door

Introducing the Authentic 31

Questions from a Reader About Honduras

Echoes of the FDR Era: Health Care Passes the US House

Big Gun: US Labor Secretary Hilda Solis Heads to Honduras Tuesday

[World Bank]: World Bank Predicts Sharply Slower Growth

The new Global Economic Prospects update notes that global growth is expected to contract by 1.7 percent this year. This would be the first decline in world output since World War II. GDP is projected to decline by 3 percent in OECD countries and by 2 percent in other high-income economies.

[Atlantic]: The Quiet Coup

The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States. One of the most alarming, says a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, is that the finance industry has effectively captured our government -- a state of affairs that more typically describes emerging markets, and is at the center of many emerging-market crises. If the IMF's staff could speak freely about the U.S., it would tell us what it tells all countries in this situation: recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform. And if we are to prevent a true depression, we're running out of time.

[CNBC]: Geithner Plan Will Rob US Taxpayers: Stiglitz

The U.S. government plan to rid banks of toxic assets will rob American taxpayers by exposing them to too much risk and is unlikely to work as long as the economy remains weak, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said on Tuesday.

[FT]: China calls for new reserve currency

"This is a clear sign that China, as the largest holder of US dollar financial assets, is concerned about the potential inflationary risk of the US Federal Reserve printing money," said Qu Hongbin, chief China economist for HSBC.

[NYT]: Cuomo Says Most Huge A.I.G. Bonuses Were Returned

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced late Monday afternoon that 9 of the top 10 bonus recipients at the American International Group had given back their bonuses.

[Bloomberg]: Bank of America's Bernstein Says Sell Bank Stocks After Rally

Removing devalued loans and securities from banks' balance sheets is a short-term solution that will delay the problem's ultimate solution, which is bank takeovers, Bernstein said. The government won't be able to inflate the prices banks receive for selling bad assets indefinitely, he added.

[Max Hastings]: Seize their Porsches and throw them in jail!

How can the real world get through to these people that they are not success stories, winners, masters of the universe but failures, losers, impresarios of misery? Why should banking be singled out, to be rewarded differently from every other form of human endeavour?

[Felix Salmon]: Revolution in the Air

Might we might be seeing the first real rumblings of class warfare -- the genuine article, not the Republican talking-point -- in this country?

[NYT]: Sweden Says No to Saving Saab

The Swedish government has responded to Saab's desperate financial situation by saying, essentially, tough luck. Or, as the enterprise minister, Maud Olofsson, put it recently, "The Swedish state is not prepared to own car factories."

[WSJ]: Geithner: My Plan for Bad Bank Assets

The financial system as a whole is still working against recovery. Many banks, still burdened by bad lending decisions, are holding back on providing credit. Market prices for many assets held by financial institutions -- so-called legacy assets -- are either uncertain or depressed. With these pressures at work on bank balance sheets, credit remains a scarce commodity, and credit that is available carries a high cost for borrowers.