The administration decided that using billions of dollars to buy troubled assets of financial institutions at the current time was "not the most effective way" to use the $700 billion bailout package, he said.

The announcement marked a major shift for the administration which had talked only about purchasing troubled assets as it lobbied Congress to pass the massive bailout bill.

Bait n switch?

Paulson: Government won't buy troubled bank assets - Yahoo! News

Fifth, the task of forming economic policy and putting it into practice is highly decentralized across states and regions. There really is not a single U.S. economy, but a collection of specialized regional economies—think of the entertainment complex in Hollywood or life sciences in Boston. Each region has its own industry clusters, with specialized skills and assets. Each state and region takes responsibility for competitiveness and addresses its own problems rather than waiting for the central government. This decentralization is arguably America's greatest hidden competitive strength.

Absolutely positively YES. Another great article from one of my heroes, Dr. Michael Porter of HBS.

Why America Needs an Economic Strategy

There are hundreds of sites where job seekers can go to find a new job, and virtually none where you can find reviews of bosses or companies or jobs.

Excellent!

Seth's Blog: Be careful of who you work for

The low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy, only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America.

Fuck you, Fuck you, Fuck you, You're cool... Fuck you, I'm out.

Andrew Lahde bows out in style

"Only a small portion of problem loans," can be saved, said Deutsche Bank analyst Karen Weaver. "In some cases the lender is better off just taking back the property and just selling it."

Selling it for what? If the value has dropped, then you might as well let the owner refinance at the fair market value and stay in the home. If you flood the market with all of these foreclosed dwellings, the value is going to drop more and there aren't any buyers. This makes no sense to me. How can the American People subsidize a bailout of the PAPER HOLDERS when the owners of the collateral get screwed? WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE???

Bailout offers little hope to thousands facing foreclosure

We’re all connected. As others have pointed out, you can’t save Main Street and punish Wall Street anymore than you can be in a rowboat with someone you hate and think that the leak in the bottom of the boat at his end is not going to sink you, too. The world really is flat. We’re all connected. “Decoupling” is pure fantasy.

I totally understand the resentment against Wall Street titans bringing home $60 million bonuses. But when the credit system is imperiled, as it is now, you have to focus on saving the system, even if it means bailing out people who don’t deserve it. Otherwise, you’re saying: I’m going to hold my breath until that Wall Street fat cat turns blue. But he’s not going to turn blue; you are, or we all are. We have to get this right.

You're right Tom. We can't just hold our breath or ignore saving someone that doesn't deserve (or need) to be saved. But to take the deal that was offered, is just plain stupid. Paulson and Bernanke should ALSO go to prison for allowing the industry to try and sham the American People with this crappy deal. Fuck you.

Rescue the Rescue - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com

To some, the government's decision to resort to a bailout represents a tacit admission: For all officials' desire to allow markets to punish the risk-taking that engendered the crisis, banks have the upper hand.

This is a good "play-by-play" of what has led up to a staggering power play.

Lehman's Demise Triggered Cash Crunch Around Globe

The European Commission today outlined a goal for all European Union member states to have access to high-speed Internet access by 2010.

I'm sure it will have tons of loopholes and underwhelming definition, but the fact that the EU is putting this effort together is impressive and sends a clear message to the US: we are passing you.

Europe aims for universal broadband by 2010

Cars aren't iPods or washing machines. They are both highly complex machines and the enablers of a way of life that for many is synonymous with freedom and opportunity -- not just in the U.S., but increasingly in rising nations such as China, India and Russia.

Engineering and tooling to produce a new vehicle takes three to five years -- and that's without adding the challenge of major new technology. Most car buyers won't accept "beta" technology in the vehicles they and their families depend on every day. Many senior industry executives -- including those at Japanese companies -- have vivid memories of the backlash against the quality problems that resulted when Detroit rushed smaller cars and new engines into the market after the gas-price shocks of the 1970s. The lesson learned: Technological change is best done incrementally.

This is part of a broader expose that the WSJ is doing about green tech and business, all of which I have not read yet but am looking forward to doing so.

I think that these 2 paragraphs give very short shrift to the underlying problem with the automotive industry. Product development lifecycle is just too damn slow. Where is the innovation? It needs to be right here.

Most other products have experienced tremendous gains in this kind of investment. I mean, the software industry alone has benefited exponentially from gains in lifecycle management. It's not a fair comparison, but it is proof that things can get a lot better.

Yes, it's expensive and time consuming to create the manufacturing tools and systems to create a new product in this industry, but incrementalizing your way isn't going to rescue Detroit. There's loads of things like new materials, new construction and fabrication techniques, and new shared tooling. That's not even to mention process improvements like faster iteration of testing and less focus on marketing test groups. Throw away the waterfall method and you might be surprised at much more efficient you can get. Who knows, that might even result in production cost savings giving you a better margin or a cheaper car for the consumer.

Why the Gasoline Engine Isn't Going Away Any Time Soon - WSJ.com

Nonetheless, a company was set up by Kramer to bring the IXI to a commercial release, but it slipped into the public domain in 1988 when the firm failed to raise the �60,000 needed to renew international patents.

Timing is everything!

iPod roots traced back to 1970s UK