From Open Democracy, the crisis of the finance sector is vindication of the neglected work of Karl Polanyi, an economic historian of "great transformation" and an anatomist of "casino capitalism". Why small government, loose regulations and an over-reliance on markets eventually cost taxpayers: A review of The Private Abuse of the Public Interest: Market Myths and Policy Muddles by Lawrence Brown and Lawrence Jacobs. It's not just a matter of greed: Greed is a human constant, which begs the question of what it is that changed in the lead-up to this financial crisis. Face it: Marx was partly right about capitalism. The financial crisis gripping the US isn't an anomaly — we just have short memories. Everybody calm down: A government hand in the economy is as old as the republic. Power shifts from NY to DC: After Wall Street's quake, Manhattan braces for financial tsunami. The Lost Tycoons: The death of Wall Street began when the firms moved away from their original reason for being. A review of The Partnership: The Making of Goldman Sachs by Charles Ellis. Daniel Gross on how the financial crisis reveals that Washington bureaucrats can handle an emergency but politicians can't. The end of the big swinging dick: A Wall Street icon falls. Where does this leave the Masters of the Universe now? Tom Wolfe wants to know. A profile of Nassim Nicholas Taleb, the new sage of Wall Street.
