» Posted by Martin Weil on January 18, 2009

Dealbreaker and The Economist believe so.

At least, it is an advertisement on the real value of paying for first class. Felix Salmon adds that the plane was headed for Charlotte, corporate headquarters of serial bailout recipient Bank of America.

» Posted by Martin Weil on January 05, 2009

Americans enter the New Year in a strange new role: financial lunatics. We've been viewed by the wider world with mistrust and suspicion on other matters, but on the subject of money even our harshest critics have been inclined to believe that we knew what we were doing. They watched our investment bankers and emulated them: for a long time now half the planet's college graduates seemed to want nothing more out of life than a job on Wall Street.

This is one reason the collapse of our financial system has inspired not merely a national but a global crisis of confidence. Good God, the world seems to be saying, if they don't know what they are doing with money, who does?

Michael Lewis, one of the better financial newswriters, along with hedge fund manager David Einhorn, writes a lengthy two-part OpEd on what went wrong and how to fix it in the Sunday NY Times (registration required). Highly recommended.

» Posted by Martin Weil on January 04, 2009

So said President Hoover, seen here with his council of advisers, following the 1929 stock market crash.

According to an article in today's NY Times, "In the midst of the deepest recession in the experience of most Americans, many professional forecasters are optimistically heading into the new year declaring that the worst may soon be over."

At this stage, such a statement clearly needs to be taken with a healthy dose of skepticism.