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<channel>
	<title>the rational post</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost</link>
	<description>a collection of essays and articles on the science of everyday life</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Sun, 11 Nov 2012 02:44:04 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>Divided We Fall: The Dangerous State of Partisan Politics</title>
		<link>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2012/11/10/divided-we-fall-the-dangerous-state-of-partisan-politics/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2012/11/10/divided-we-fall-the-dangerous-state-of-partisan-politics/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 11 Nov 2012 02:41:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[finance & economics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[financial crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[headline]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history & society]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[world affairs]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/?p=2467</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present.” - Abraham Lincoln
At a time of great uncertainty there is comfort in ceremony. Election night put a merciful end to the presidential campaign supercycle, and many Americans will be glad to return to prime time TV and ads about how chairs are like Facebook. But ominous headwinds remain, and neither candidate seemed willing or able to create the blueprints for sustainable, responsible, inclusive growth, regardless of who was picked as Chief Executive on November 6th.
To be clear, wonderful promises and hopeful rhetoric about America’s potential certainly emerged throughout the campaign. But two clear facts remain: constitutionally speaking the President can only do so much, and neither candidate rallied the ...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2012/11/10/divided-we-fall-the-dangerous-state-of-partisan-politics/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Curse of Success</title>
		<link>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2012/01/09/the-curse-of-success/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2012/01/09/the-curse-of-success/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Jan 2012 03:14:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[finance & economics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[science & tech]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/?p=2452</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[“A man who has committed a mistake and doesn&#8217;t correct it,
is committing another mistake.” ~ Confucius
Another quarterly earnings release has come and gone, and once again Canada’s former mobile tech heavyweight has stunned even those who have grown used to disappointment. It might seem unfair to criticize a company that services roughly 75 million BlackBerry subscribers worldwide – that is, when its service hasn’t failed – and sold over 14 million new phones and 150,000 tablets in the last three months alone. After all, Research In Motion (RIM) still generates 37 per cent margins and earns almost $1 billion in service fees every three months.
That said, the company’s devices currently boast the fastest-shrinking share of the growing smartphone market (plunging to 10 per cent in 2011 ...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2012/01/09/the-curse-of-success/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>the great recession: act iii</title>
		<link>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2011/08/08/the-great-recession-act-iii/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2011/08/08/the-great-recession-act-iii/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Aug 2011 04:04:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[financial crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history & society]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/?p=2422</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[“The world of finance hails the invention of the wheel over and over again,
often in a slightly more unstable version.”
- John Kenneth Galbraith, A Short History of Financial Euphoria, 1994
Financial markets finally caught a whiff of economic reality these past two weeks, erasing more than $5 trillion of global wealth in seven short trading days. It was the worst market correction since the onset of the financial crisis in late 2008, and it may just be the beginning. A final bombshell dropped late on Friday evening as Standard &#38; Poors held true to its word and robbed the United States of its AAA rating for the first time in history. One Wall Street Journal editor reflected just moments after the ...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2011/08/08/the-great-recession-act-iii/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>the foreclosure mess</title>
		<link>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/10/16/the-foreclosure-mess/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/10/16/the-foreclosure-mess/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 16 Oct 2010 15:58:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[financial crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[in other words]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bailout]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[banking system]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[capitalism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corruption]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[investment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mortgage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[real estate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[speculation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/?p=2382</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A timely and frightening exploration of the causes and consequences of the emerging foreclosure mess. This close cousin of the earlier sub-prime mortgage debacle provides even more evidence of the financial industry&#8217;s hubris and inescapable self-interest. 
As the saying goes: garbage in, garbage out&#8230;
The Foreclosure Mess
October 15, 2010, Cumberland Advisors (www.cumber.com)
Dear Readers, this text came to me in an email from sources that are in the financial services business and with whom I have a personal relationship.  The original text was laced with expletives and I would not use it in the form I received it.  Therefore the text below has had some substantial editing in order to remove that language.  The intentions of the writer are undisturbed. ...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/10/16/the-foreclosure-mess/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>in like a lion, out like a lamb?</title>
		<link>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/09/07/in-like-a-lion-out-like-a-lamb/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/09/07/in-like-a-lion-out-like-a-lamb/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:51:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[financial crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history & society]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[capital markets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[investment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[macroeconomics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[psychology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[risk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[speculation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[statistics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stimulus]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/?p=2350</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Students of behavioral finance must have had a field day this past week. In the wake of a month of dismal economic reports, Wall Street got its risk on with a few better than expected reports on manufacturing sentiment, home sales, and employment. Hopium, it appears, is a powerful drug.
Economists spent August cautiously lowering their outlook for the second half of the year as Obama&#8217;s &#8220;recovery summer&#8221; failed to bear fruit, the Federal Reserve failed at both of its twin mandates (stable prices and full employment), and bullish analysts failed to convince investors that the market was ready to climb to fresh highs. As a result, stocks ended the worst August in nine years with rising calls for stimulus and ...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/09/07/in-like-a-lion-out-like-a-lamb/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>the great recession: act ii</title>
		<link>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/08/11/the-great-recession-act-ii/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/08/11/the-great-recession-act-ii/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 12 Aug 2010 00:55:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[financial crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[world affairs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[austerity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bailout]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[banking system]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[capitalism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[debate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[financial markets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[geopolitics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[macroeconomics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stimulus]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/?p=2315</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As Canadians sparred over fake lakes, budget-busting security, and the global capitalist conspiracy, the world’s twenty most influential leaders convened in Toronto this past June to negotiate a response to the worst financial crisis in generations. At issue was an age old debate between two economic philosophies: stimulus as a life vest versus stimulus as a straitjacket. The pro-life camp was championed by consumerist America and its global supply chain. The pro-restraint camp was led by conservative Germany and its regional demand chain. At risk were millions of jobs, trillions in debt, and quite possibly the fate of our modern political economy.
With so much on the line, the G20’s vague and non-committal communique was particularly troublesome, since a crisis this big requires a coordinated and comprehensive response. Instead, the world’s two largest economies spent ...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/08/11/the-great-recession-act-ii/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>behavioral bias</title>
		<link>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/08/08/behavioral-bias/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/08/08/behavioral-bias/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 Aug 2010 01:46:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[finance & economics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history & society]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[science & tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[behavioral]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bias]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[economics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[healthcare]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/?p=2308</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As evidence continues to mount that established models of rational decision-making are dangerously out of date, behavioral science has embraced human irrationality in all of its deceptively predictable forms. At the forefront of the field is Duke University professor Dan Ariely, whose simple experiments into human bias have shed light on everything from the fallacy of supply and demand to the problem of procrastination.
In a recent interview with NPR, he turned his gaze toward the growing debate about rampant health care costs and their potentially behavioral origins. To contextualize the issue, he describes an experiment in which different groups are asked to order pizzas. One group is presented a menu where the default is an all-dressed pizza and toppings have to be taken off if ...]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>oil slick = euro trick</title>
		<link>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/05/14/oil-slick-euro-trick/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/05/14/oil-slick-euro-trick/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 15 May 2010 01:15:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[financial crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history & society]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bailout]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[contagion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crash]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[speculation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/?p=2262</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Stopping the spread of financial contagion is deceptively similar to plugging a ruptured deep-sea oil well: the cost is epic, the risk of failure is catastrophic, and expectations of success may be more hopeful than realistic. Recent efforts to address both crises share so many elements that a few tweaks to the following report on the Gulf catastrophe also freakishly describes efforts by the Eurozone to head off the risk of cascading sovereign defaults&#8230;
[European Central Bank] to [inject $1 trillion] to stop flow from [Club Med economies]
Adapted from an article on guardian.co.uk Friday 7 May 2010
The [$1 trillion facility] that remains [Europe's] best hope of containing the disaster in [Greece, Spain and Portugal] was [introduced] today amid acrid fumes from thick layers of [political rhetoric]. [Bond vigilantes] ...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/05/14/oil-slick-euro-trick/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>a dose of reality</title>
		<link>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/05/05/a-dose-of-economic-reality/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/05/05/a-dose-of-economic-reality/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 05 May 2010 15:06:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[financial crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history & society]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bailout]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[banking system]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[behavioral]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[capital markets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[capitalism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[geopolitics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[investment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[investments]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[macroeconomics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[real estate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[speculation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[unemployment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/?p=2163</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Armies of bulls and bears are camped out on either side of the great debate over the future of the global economy. Armed with the latest statistics and plenty of financial incentive, both sides are engaged in massive media campaigns to rally anyone left on the fence &#8212; principally retail investors who were either burned in the great collapse of 2008-09 or sat out the fast and furious rally over the past 14 months. As the rhetoric heats up, it becomes increasingly difficult to choose sides. A careful examination of these competing wagers provides a more holistic perspective for anyone brave enough to join the fight.
Victory lap
Having survived the worst correction in generations, major indices are now back to levels ...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/05/05/a-dose-of-economic-reality/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>failure by design</title>
		<link>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/04/22/failure-by-design/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/04/22/failure-by-design/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 23 Apr 2010 03:22:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[financial crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history & society]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[in other words]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[behavioral]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[capitalism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[failure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[synchronicity]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/?p=2131</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Churchill argued that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others. With capitalism now falling under similar fire, modern politicians, businesspeople and academics are once again questioning both the failures of free markets and the failures of government. As pundits gather on either side of the debate &#8212; casting blame and contempt across the regulatory divide &#8212; one often overlooked explanation for all the recent chaos is the time-honored tendency for human society to self-destruct. Behavioral economists and psychologists are having a field day watching our worst decision-making biases play themselves out in political and capital markets. But few in the legislative capitals of the world have taken notice. Perhaps setting rules that expose our most primitive and predictable ...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/04/22/failure-by-design/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>turning a new leaf?</title>
		<link>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/04/07/turning-a-new-leaf/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/04/07/turning-a-new-leaf/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2010 20:56:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[financial crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[in other words]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[banking system]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bubble]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[greenspan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[macroeconomics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[regulation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/?p=2068</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Mr. Dollar testified before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission today about the challenges of a self-regulating market and the dangers that lie ahead. While his belief in free market capitalism remains unshaken, Greenspan&#8217;s warnings about the key attributes that should underpin a stable banking system &#8212; adequate capitalization, liquidity, and regulatory oversight &#8212; cast a surprising shot across the bow of modern banking giants who have grown a little too comfortable with their bailout blanket and artificially low interest rates. 
Whether the economy tips back into chaos or not remains to be seen, but the rare regulatory prudence recommended in the Maestro&#8217;s testimony is a welcome conservative voice in the growing chorus to reign in banking titans who seem unwilling ...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/04/07/turning-a-new-leaf/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>complexity and collapse</title>
		<link>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/03/31/complexity-and-collapse/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/03/31/complexity-and-collapse/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:29:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[financial crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history & society]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[in other words]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[complexity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[empire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[financial system]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[macroeconomics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sustainability]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/?p=2066</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[From daily solar cycles to quarterly seasonal changes to the 130,000-year lapse between Ice Ages, our world is filled with natural ebbs and flows. Those that try to forecast the future by studying these longer sweeping patterns are often accused of being out of touch, relying on the distant past for established wisdom rather than embracing contemporary optimism that &#8220;this time is different&#8220;. In this essay in Foreign Affairs, Niall Ferguson reminds us that America is just as vulnerable to collapse as the many great civilizations that preceded it &#8212; maybe even more so given the increasing complexity of our modern global economy&#8230;

Complexity and Collapse
Empires on the Edge of Chaos
by Niall Ferguson in the March/April 2010 Issue of Foreign Affairs ...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/03/31/complexity-and-collapse/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>market makers</title>
		<link>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/03/25/market-makers/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/03/25/market-makers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 26 Mar 2010 00:38:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[finance & economics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[financial crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[in other words]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[banking system]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[capital markets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[economics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[primer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[speculation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/?p=2040</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As ideological battles are waged over the benefits of free markets, the challenges of financial regulation, the inefficiency of policymaking, and the design of a sustainable path forward, pundits often attack one another without a fundamental understanding of the mechanics of our modern financial system. This primer helps to explain the unique roles that banks and capital markets play in the efficient (and sometimes painfully inefficient) functioning of of modern society. While it won&#8217;t settle any debates, it certainly reminds us how little we may know about the way the economy works&#8230;


Did the Capital Markets Fail Us?
By Karen Johnson &#124; Thursday, March 25, 2010
Amid the debate about excessive bonuses and inadequate risk management, it is useful to ask why the faith ...]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>the spanish prisoner</title>
		<link>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/02/11/the-spanish-prisoner/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/02/11/the-spanish-prisoner/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Feb 2010 06:03:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[financial crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[in other words]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[world affairs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[capitalism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[europe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leadership]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leverage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[macroeconomics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[speculation]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/?p=2018</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Zapatero is not a good driver. It&#8217;s like a boat, which in calm waters steers fine, but when it gets bumpy, they are not prepared.&#8221; The same could be said for many of the world&#8217;s C-level leaders, so it&#8217;s perhaps not surprising that both companies and countries are finding out the hard way that credit can dry up when the sea gets choppy&#8230;
Not a bull in sight as the bears go after Spain
From the nosebleed seats of the E.U., government cries out &#8216;We are not Greece&#8217;
By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch) &#8212; Eduardo Fernandez Agudo is old enough to have lived through other economic crisis in Spain, but the current one has him worried enough.
&#8220;We are in a very difficult time. For ...]]></description>
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		<title>if piigs could fly</title>
		<link>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/02/07/if-piigs-could-fly/</link>
		<comments>http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/2010/02/07/if-piigs-could-fly/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:55:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The Editor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[financial crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[in other words]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bailout]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[capital markets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[europe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[geithner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[investment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[piigs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[recession]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[recovery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[treasury]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.freedom24.org/rationalpost/?p=2000</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The markets whipsawed in volatile trading last week as war was waged over key technical levels in the Dow (10,000) and S&#38;P (1050). The backdrop was bitter sweet: trouble among the perennial sick men of Europe (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain) on the one hand, and upbeat earnings in Corporate America on the other. With all the uncertainty over the short-term trajectory of the economy, it would be tough to fault political leaders for at least preaching that the glass is still half full. That said, it&#8217;s almost criminal for the Secretary of the Treasury to tell the American people &#8212; on their holiest of sporting days &#8212; that America&#8217;s economy was frothing at the end of last year, ...]]></description>
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