Few economists now doubt that private household spending and corporate investment will rescue the economy on their own. The debate now lies in the scale and scope of the government’s intervention, as the only institution with the access to capital, macroeconomic scope, and investment horizon needed to jump-start the labor market, keep production cycles from seizing up, and create the necessary conditions for manageable lending and spending to resume.

A visual schematic of America’s stimulus dollars at work, as proposed under the recently approved House bill…

The frightening this about this table isn’t lavish CEO pay after record bank losses, nor the 9-figure scale of the payouts, but just how closely the bailout money matches the total bonus pool in almost every case. Granted, base compensation in investment banking is nearly equivalent to the minimum wage, but there are a lot of people – roughly 3.6 million in America alone – that would jump at the chance to make $150,000 for 90 hour work-weeks, if only they could…

For nearly a quarter century, Milton Friedman’s monetarists and their acolytes at the Federal Reserve have pursued American prosperity on the assumption that the sheer quantity of money in the economy, along with the degree to which it turns over annually, are the principal levers shaping macroeconomic fundamentals. For the better part of the 20th century that assumption held true as money supply was carefully managed, rising when the economy needed a boost and contracting when it was overheating.
The theory draws its roots from a colossal failure by the Federal Reserve during the Great Depression.

Scientists and market commentators have long been aware of the susceptibility of the markets to any single investment philosophy. The rise of early program trading contributed to the historic one-day loss of nearly 23% on Black Monday in 1987. Recent experiments with risk securitization may cost trillions of borrowed dollars to unwind and decades to fully digest.

The past, present, and future of Wall Street according to its unofficial biographer…

The existence of black markets in virtually every economy on the planet is a testament to human resourcefulness and natural entrepreneurship. For those that are building tunnels under Gaza’s border with Egypt, $100,000 and a few months work can generate up to $10,000 a day in fees, and help to provide critical supplies and less critical desires into the struggling Gaza strip. One economist has estimated that roughly 90% of the annexed economy is driven by these covert smuggling operations. Unfortunately, along with tea, cows, washing machines, and gas flow AK-47s, drugs, and anti-aircraft missiles as soaring Gazan demand meets profitable Egyptian supply…