The fact that over the last 25-years or so the United States simply lurches from one crisis to another is distressing, but it shouldn't be surprising.  In this article the example provided by Lawrence Summers is used to show that with financial crises there seems to be little in the way of accountability or learning from the mistakes of the past.  The AIG debacle of the housing bubble

Frederic Bastiat said, "when plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it."  Stephen Friedman is the personification of Bastiat's observation.  The manner in which Friedman capitalized on his privileged position as chairman of the NY Fed to e

"Oh!  A nice uppercut by Buster Douglas!  Look at this!  He has knocked Mike Tyson down for the first time in his career.  Mike Tyson hits the canvas.  He's in big trouble!  He may not be able to recover.  Its up to seven and eight....he's not going to make it!  Unbelievable! Unbelievable!

In last week's article, Paul Krugman's argument that the government's two enormous government sponsored enterprises, (GSEs), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, had little to do with the housing crisis was introduced, (1).  As a preliminary to discussing whether this argument makes any sense, last week's article also introduced the following two items;

Gordon Bethune, the former CEO of Continental Airlines, famously said of the airline industry, "you're only as smart as your dumbest competitor."  The point being, any airline - no matter how well run - can be completely undermined by a competitor dedicated to increasing market share at the cost of profitability.