Hold the Hysteria (For Now)- March 26, 2008 Regarding the economy, it's hard not to notice this stark contrast: The "real economy" of spending, production and jobs -- though weakening -- is hardly in a state of collapse, but much of today's semi-hysterical commentary suggests that it is. Financial markets for stocks and bonds are described as being "in turmoil." People talk about a recession as if it were the second coming of Genghis Khan. Some whisper the dreaded word "depression." Meanwhile, Americans are expected to buy about 15...http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/25/AR2008032502298.html?nav=r... How This Crisis Is Different- March 18, 2008 It's said that we're in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Maybe. But remember the S&L crisis of the mid-1980s Or the commercial banking crisis of the late 1980s (from 1988 to 1992, 905 banks failed). Or the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, which sent South Korea, Indonesia and other countries on a boom-bust rollercoaster All were frightening. What distinguishes this crisis -- which brought down Bear Sterns over the weekend -- is that it involves the entire financial system,..http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/17/AR2008031702150.html?nav=r... OPEC's Triumph- March 12, 2008 For much of its 47-year existence, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has been a cartel in name only. It could not control oil prices because many of its members regularly breached the production quotas that were intended to regulate the market. So OPEC followed oil prices up and down, as supply and demand shifted. But now OPEC may be the real deal: a cartel that works. If so, that's bad news for the rest of the world.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/11/AR2008031102461.html?nav=r... The Housing Fix- March 5, 2008 "Decline in Home Prices Accelerates"http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/04/AR2008030402330.html?nav=r... |