Cash Crash Dept.

The Times has a spectacular opinion piece — courtesy of Michael (Liar's Poker) Lewis, that explains how the whole financial implosion of the past year or so was in the works for far longer, and was in many cases aided and abetted by the very people whose jobs it was to (in theory) prevent such things from happening.

There is a great deal to read here, including a set of common-sense measures to prevent things like this from happening in the future — none of which seem to be on anyone's agenda, amazingly enough.