A review of Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets: Surviving the Public Spectacle in Finance and Politics by William Bonner and Lila Rajiva. A review of When Washington Shut Down Wall Street: The Great Financial Crisis of 1914 and the Origins of America's Monetary Supremacy by William L. Silber. Postcards from the ledge: There is certainly a path out of the gathering banking crisis, but no guarantee that the world economy will find it. Beware of falling knives: It's tough to make money off the credit bubble—even for daredevil billionaires. Unsupported and untrue: WSJ lacks evidence to support a sweeping, front-page claim against mortgage borrowers. The match king: Ivar Kreuger was the world's greatest swindler — he would have thrived today.
