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Hullabaloo — First Draft Of History by digby Read this story in the New Yorker called The Anatomy of a Meltdown. Be sure you're sitting down. This too. What a mess. .

Bernanke and Greenspan: Wunnerful, wunnerful
Corrente — The New Yorker on Bernanke's debacle. There are many, many incidents that give one pause, but this one stands out for me: Read more…

Bush Is Actually Smart
Open Left - Front Page — This is only shocking in a 'loud fat tourist at a solemn religious site' manner, but it did strike me that it's the President of the United States acting the part of the weird fat tourist. ...

BERNANKE: FANNIE MAE THE ROOT CAUSE
THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS — NEW YORKER: Bernanke couldn’t say so publicly, but he agreed with some of the critics. For years, the Fed had warned that Fannie and Freddie were squeezing out competitors and engaging in risky mortgage-lending practices. Bernanke would have liked to combine a rescue package with extensive reforms, but he realized that an overhaul of the companies was not politically feasible. Despite their financial problems, Fannie and Freddie still had many powerful allies in Congress [DEMOCRATS!], and Bernanke was determined that the plan be approved ...

Mike's Blog Roundup
Crooks and Liars — Washington Monthly: Last Secrets of the Bush Administration naked capitalism: What Barack Obama needs to know About Tim Geithner, the AIG fiasco, Citigroup, and the Meltdown Brown Man Thinking Hard: The quiet transition you are NOT hearing about (h/t swimgirl) AlterNet: 2008 marks the 20th anniversary of Multinational Monitor's annual list of the 10 Worst Corporations of the year. Legal Schnauzer: The Siegelman Whistleblower: Did a notorious Bushie sweep the charges under the rug? ...

A Man Called Ben
Crooks and Liars — The New Yorker's John Cassidy gives us an in depth look at meltdown in The Street. Or, "A Man Called Ben." Anatomy of a Meltdown Bernanke says that he was “mistaken early on in saying that the subprime crisis would be contained...read on ...