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On Wednesday afternoon, the jury asked a judge for transcripts of testimony from government informant Besnik Bakalli on days government lawyers questioned him. Bakalli said the suspects used a trip to Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains to train for waging a holy war.
As banks, insurance companies, brokerage firms, automobile manufacturers, and God knows who else line up to try and feed at the public trough, the original source of the spreading financial and credit crisis, the mortgage industry, is still in deep trouble. Whether the initial bailout plan passed by Congress will help stem mortgage lenders’ financial problems in the short run is still an open question. But one thing is certain: Nothing in the original legislation or Treasury’s actions and infusion of funds since then have made the legal, regulatory, and enforcement changes required to prevent this problem from happening again in the long run — no matter how many tax dollars the Treasury Department pours into the problem.
I spoke with the bearish—but prescient—economist Nouriel Roubini on Wednesday about what's in store for the economy, housing, and stock markets in 2009. Here's what he had to say:
Obama has expressed interest in pursuing dialogue with Iran aimed at achieving a halt to activities in the Middle Eastern state that could support nuclear weapons development. Iran has defended its nuclear program as a strictly civilian effort.
