If you want to get into nation building, start with your own nation. If you don’t like gay marriage, don’t marry a gay. Don’t try to save an economy by saving its banks; save its banks by saving its economy. Don’t try to be in the middle when there is no middle. Don’t compromise with a sullen, vengeful and beaten down opponent; they won’t compromise with you if you let them rise again. If bad advisors give you bad advice, encourage them to spend more time with...

The Democrats in Congress and the Administration have succeeded in doing what they set out to do. After long months of shadow boxing and pontificating, they finally produced a financial reform that has a patina of real reform without unduly intruding on the gimmicks endlessly employed by Wall Street’s self-serving cash machines. This legislative product, party strategists hope, is so modest in its outlines that Wall Streeters will continue to pour money into Democratic coffers — money that...

I’ve been hearing and reading a lot these days about one particularly painful symptom of the currently awful economy. It’s the fact that many people who long worked hard, earned decent middle class standards of living for themselves and their families, are now not only suffering the pains and anguish of lost jobs and hard times generally, but feeling a loss of self-worth. They somehow feel guilty, in other words, about what they are forced to do to survive. That just ain’t right....

Sometimes the real story, the real message, in a news story or column is not in the piece itself. It is in its placement vis-a-vis other pieces on the same page. An excellent example of this appeared on the New York Times web site today. Right up top this morning, next to a Bob Herbert column headed “The Lunatics’ Manual,” was an op ed from Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner headed “Welcome to the recovery.” Now the two pieces were actually about very different subjects....

When the government announced yesterday that the world would end next Thursday, many people thought the markets would take the news badly. After all, scientists had originally predicted the world wouldn’t end for another three billion years, and the new number thus came in below expectations. This minor discrepancy, however, didn’t keep stocks from looking beyond early morning pessimism and bouncing back strongly in late day trading, with the Dow ending with a very respectable 523 point...

Mr. B. You look angry, sir. I am, Selig. Did you hear when Ken Feinberg, the Administration’s special master on executive compensation, said the other day about executive pay at America’s 17 largest banks? No, sir. We don’t have great access to news down here in washroom. It was horrible, Selig. Horrible. He said our record bonuses last year at a time when most Americans were suffering financially in large measure because of Wall Street practices, he said these bonuses were ill-advised....

David Cameron, the British prime minister, came to Washington the other day and did a special relationship, two hip guys having fun number with Barack Obama. Many have commented on the subjects they discussed. But I haven’t seen a lot of comparisons of the way their respective governments are functioning, and their very different approaches to leadership. Too bad. It’s an instructive exercise. Britain, of course, has a parliamentary system. Usually the party that wins the national election...

Mr. B. You look concerned. Is it that fine Goldman just got hit with? Fine, Selig? What fine? I just heard Goldman has to pay $550 million to settle a fraud case with the SEC. For putting investors into a deal where they were almost certain to lose money. Oh that. Just the cost of doing business, Selig. We made $13 billion last year. But the value of the company, sir. Won’t the fine hurt that? Don’t be silly. Our stock went up $3 billion in value the day this settlement was announced....

Whenever I hear a candidate or aspiring candidate giving fourth with some version of the old “Read my lips, no new taxes,” I have two very different reactions. One is that this is probably prudent electioneering at a time when most Americans take a dim view of paying more to governments when they are so hard-pressed themselves. The other reaction is that if this office holder wannabe actually believes this is actually a good idea, or even ever likely to happen, he or she is a ninny. Taxes...

This is a post for younger readers. Its a story, an amazing but nonetheless true story, of a major political party in this country that once upon a time promoted policies aimed at advancing the interests of those long termed “the little guy,” but referred to more recently by a BP executive as “the small people.” This party (and I know this may sound very strange to younger readers) actually pretty much governed this country between the early 1930s and the mid-1980s, controlling...

Obamanomics has now clearly failed. The reason is easy to understand. Obamanomics is just a replay of Clintonomics,with many of the same people calling the shots. Obama-Clintonomics was based on puffing up Wall Street investment banks every way imaginable, thus encouraging them to rig the stock market upwards, so as to jolly up the rubes on Main Street, who would be so giddy they would borrow like crazy from banks willing to lend like crazy at exorbitant interest rates because the Fed was giving...

Mr. B. I haven’t seen you this happy since you suckered the Beltway crowd on that A.I.G. bailout. That was fun alright, and we haven’t lost our touch. You may not have known it, Selig, but all that talk of real financial reform awhile back had me worried. Actually sir, there were hints. You seemed digestively challenged for a time. Well, that’s water under the bridge. The big banks are back in charge full bore now. No more need to even fake otherwise. We weathered the reform storm...

Every political rally worthy of the name needs a chant. For this coming election season I’d like to suggest one for folks at Democratic Party get-togethers. A chant that perfectly reflects the actions and attitudes of their president and congress: “No We Can’t!” Ready to practice for the coming political rally season? Here we go. When our conservative friends on the right say “change” they mean change big time. Should we mean that, too? “No we can’t!” If...

Mr. B. You’re back again with another bottle of screw top sparkling wine. What’s the occasion this time? BP isn’t the only company that cares about small people, Selig. Goldman Sachs cares, too. And the celebration this time is for that financial reform bill Congress is finalizing. You know, Selig, for a while I thought they might actually do things that would cut strongly into our ability to churn out huge profits with innovative financial products.  Can’t have that, sir.  No,...

There comes a time in some presidencies when the person in charge can step up and become the recognized champion of a cause, the uniter of the nation with a powerful vision in the wake of a crisis. George Bush had such a moment after 911 in a speech before Congress, and to the amazement of many (including this writer), he met the test. President Obama’s own potential true leadership moment could come tomorrow night in his televised speech about the tragedy now playing out in the Gulf of Mexico. Mr....

There comes a time in some presidencies when the person in charge can step up and become the recognized champion of a cause, the uniter of the nation with a powerful vision in the wake of a crisis. George Bush had such a moment after 911 in a speech before Congress, and to the amazement of many (including this writer), he met the test. President Obama’s own potential true leadership moment could come tomorrow night in his televised speech about the tragedy now playing out in the Gulf of Mexico. Mr....

Mr. B. You’re late this morning. Forget to take your bran flakes with breakfast? Just too busy to get away sooner, Selig. Following the energy bill before Congress. It’s back on the front burner because of what’s happening in the Gulf of Mexico. But its global warming provisions are being dropped. That could cost us money. I don’t understand, sir. I don’t understand why global warming is of interest to Goldman Sachs. That’s because you don’t understand the...

The number purveyors in economist land and government have been proclaiming this won’t be a double dip recession, with the worst yet to come. It’s thus worth asking a simple question: Why not? On the domestic front. Private sector employment gains have been tepid to date, and there’s predictions that even these very modest gains might be reversed in coming months. Foreclosures in some parts of the country are only moderating because of government programs that are tapering off....

The seemingly biggest news from yesterday’s primaries emerged from California, where it became clear that very rich women can now buy public office as easily as very rich men. Turning elsewhere, however, reading the subtext of another primary victory, one not grounded in the size of an aspirant’s personal checking account, one sees a truly epic battle shaping up for the future of financial markets — and given the the importance of these markets, perhaps the future of the American economy...

The EU’s euro is shrinking, like a summer ice cream scoop, The U.S. Congress keeps spending, awash in that old debt soup, The struggling Dow and Nasdaq, can’t seem to find a floor, And investor fears keep rising, rising, rising, Investor fears keep rising, As confidence goes through the floor. The days are past when investors viewed all losers as fallen gems, And rushed to their rescue with money, like nurturing mother hens, Now even sound firms are nervous, and cut spending to the bone, To...

You can’t check a news report these days without coming across some reference to “the markets.” The reason is obvious. Activity in financial markets are shaping our lives in so many ways, and pretty much determining our economic presents and futures. Given this reality, it’s worth stepping back for a moment and understanding who or what “the markets” really are, and where they are taking us. A good first step here is to understand what they are not. Economic professionals...

Why do you want to be president, I asked. He looked at me like I was crazy. Are you kidding, he answered after a moment. I could do so much good. I could take the country on a different path. I could be a historic symbol of our progress as a nation and a people. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I replied. But for heavens sakes, man, do you know what you’ll be inheriting? Look at the economy. Decades of overspending, over borrowing, consumption over infrastructure, so much money flowing up and so little trickling...

Come this November President Obama and Democratic Party leaders will be calling their legislative achievements historic and unprecedented since New Deal days. In this regard they will call special attention to the health care reform law passed awhile back, and the financial reform that seems likely to be enacted in the next few weeks. This isn’t a totally hollow boast. What these two measures actually represent, however, are not historical achievements that fundamentally altered a status quo,...

Last week the Senate did something it hates to do. Something few people thought it ever would do. It included something in a financial reform bill that has the potential to really, really, cut into big Wall Street bank profits and really, really make our financial system safe from another 2008-style system-wide collapse. Disrespecting big bank lobbyists and ignoring pleas from big bank straw men at the Treasury, it allowed to remain in its version of a financial reform measure a provision that would...

Mr B. I’m surprised to see you. I thought you and the gang were monitoring doings in the Senate. And here you are in the washroom, carrying a bottle of champagne. Actually, Selig, its Asti Spumanti. We ran out of the Dom Perignon upstairs. But this stuff does have bubbles, and it’s for you. Gee, thanks. A white wine with bubbles. What’s the occasion, sir? What are we celebrating? Not just what, Selig. But who. We’re drinking a toast to Senator Chris Dodd. Him? I thought he...