Some good stuff this morning. Hank Paulson tells his story, Sheila Bair says what’s on her mind, an American says big government works and a Canadian calls Americans tax crybabies. Read on!
Hank Paulson’s Longest Night (Vanity Fair) The former Treasury Secretary explains himself.
The case against a super-regulator (New York Times) Written by FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair
The coming bank deposit bailout (Wall Street Journal) Speaking of the FDIC:
Americans are about to re-learn that bank deposit insurance isn’t free, even as Washington is doing its best to delay the coming bailout. The banking system and the federal fisc would both be better off in the long run if the political class owned up to the reality.
We’re referring to the federal deposit insurance fund, which has been shrinking faster than reservoirs in the California drought.
Big government works. Wall Street doesn’t. Make sure you read the comments section. Ouch.
Take off, tax crybabies (National Post) An opinion from the Great White North:
Americans are tax crybabies, but their spendthrift party will have to end. For the first time, there are hushed whispers in Washington’s policy corridors of a possible federal VAT, or GST, across the land to right the listing ship of state.
Some say this is impossible. After all, the President who does this must be the political equivalent of a suicide bomber, willing to die politically in order to get to fiscal heaven.
But no less than the great former governor of the Federal Reserve and Reaganite Paul Volcker has given some, albeit tepid, support to the possibility, according to a recent Washington Post article.
The 25 people who won the recession (Clusterstock)
You will never text while driving again (NPR) Morning Edition story on the Wales public service announcement that’s gone viral. I can’t watch it again.
Analyzing the media coverage of health care (PBS NewsHour)
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