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<channel><title><![CDATA[washingtonpost.com - Robert J. Samuelson Archive]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/03/24/LI2005032402276.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><description><![CDATA[]]></description><language>en-us</language><ttl>15</ttl><image><title>washingtonpost.com</title><width>140</width><height>20</height><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com?nav=rss</link><url>http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/hp/image/wp_web.gif </url></image>
<item><title><![CDATA[ The Engine of Mayhem ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/12/AR2008101201631.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/12/AR2008101201631.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ It's easy to explain the continuing financial chaos -- and the failure of governments to control it -- as the triumph of psychology. Fear reigns, and panic follows. Everyone dumps stocks because everyone believes that everyone else will sell. Only rapidly falling prices attract sufficient buyers. All this is true. But it ignores the real engine of mayhem: "deleveraging." That's economic shorthand for purging the financial system of too much debt. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[The]]></category><category><![CDATA[Engine]]></category><category><![CDATA[of]]></category><category><![CDATA[Mayhem]]></category><category><![CDATA[]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Is It 1929 Again? ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/05/AR2008100501251.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/05/AR2008100501251.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Watching the slipping economy and Congress's epic debate over the unprecedented $700 billion financial bailout, it is impossible not to wonder whether this is 1929 all over again. Even sophisticated observers invoke the comparison. Martin Wolf, the chief economics commentator for the Financial Times, began a recent column: "It is just over three score years and ten since the [end of the] Great Depression." What's frightening is not any one event but the prospect that things are slipping out of control. Panic -- political as well as economic -- is the enemy. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Is]]></category><category><![CDATA[It]]></category><category><![CDATA[1929]]></category><category><![CDATA[Again?]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Federal Reserve]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ben Bernanke]]></category><category><![CDATA[Germany]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ireland]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Bankrupt Economics ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/28/AR2008092802230.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/28/AR2008092802230.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ What we are witnessing, in the broadest sense, is the bankruptcy of modern economics. Its conceit has been that we had solved the problem of stability. Oh, there would be periodic recessions, but the prospects of a major economic collapse were negligible because we knew how the system worked and could take steps to prevent it. What's been so unsettling about the present crisis is that it has not conformed to the standard model of business cycles and has not submitted to familiar textbook solutions. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Bankrupt]]></category><category><![CDATA[Economics]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ben Bernanke]]></category><category><![CDATA[Henry M. Paulson]]></category><category><![CDATA[Michael Mussa]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Federal Reserve]]></category><category><![CDATA[Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ What's the True Cost? ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/24/AR2008092402950.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/24/AR2008092402950.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Love it or hate it, the true cost of Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's proposed rescue of the financial system is not the sticker price of $700 billion. Conceivably, the government could make money; with glum assumptions, the losses would probably be less than $250 billion. No one knows the correct answer -- not Paulson, not Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke nor anyone else -- but here's how to think about the problem.<br clear="all"/><a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=4213102203674" target="_blank"><img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=4213102203674" border="0" vspace="5"></a> ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[What's]]></category><category><![CDATA[the]]></category><category><![CDATA[True]]></category><category><![CDATA[Cost?]]></category><category><![CDATA[Mark Zandi]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ben Bernanke]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bill Gross]]></category><category><![CDATA[American International Group Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[Economy.com Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[Fannie Mae]]></category><category><![CDATA[Freddie Mac Holdings]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Congressional Budget Office]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Paulson's Panic ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/23/AR2008092302326.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/23/AR2008092302326.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Call it Paulson's Panic. That's both unfair and accurate. It's unfair because Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson didn't create the underlying conditions that led to today's financial turmoil, and the failure for not quelling it is shared by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. But it's also accurate, because as world financial markets verged on panic, Paulson himself panicked. He saw no remedy except a massive bailout: having the government buy up to $700 billion worth of risky bonds. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Paulson's]]></category><category><![CDATA[Panic]]></category><category><![CDATA[Henry M. Paulson]]></category><category><![CDATA[Richard Nixon]]></category><category><![CDATA[Allen Matusow]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ben Bernanke]]></category><category><![CDATA[David Smick]]></category><category><![CDATA[Herbert Stein]]></category><category><![CDATA[Paul Volcker]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Federal Reserve]]></category><category><![CDATA[Rice University]]></category><category><![CDATA[Thomson Reuters Corporation]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ The Confidence Game ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/21/AR2008092101125.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/21/AR2008092101125.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ It's doubtful that Princeton University economist Ben Bernanke and former Goldman Sachs CEO Hank Paulson imagined what awaited them when they took charge of the Fed and the Treasury, respectively, in 2006. Since then, they have put their agencies on a wartime footing, trying to avert the financial equivalent of an army's collapse. As in war, there have been repeated surprises. As in war, the responses have involved much improvisation -- for instance, the $85 billion rescue of American International Group. But last week their hastily built defenses seemed to be crumbling, so Paulson proposed a radical solution of having the government buy vast amounts of distressed debt to shore up the financial system. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[The]]></category><category><![CDATA[Confidence]]></category><category><![CDATA[Game]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Federal Reserve]]></category><category><![CDATA[American International Group Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Department of the Treasury]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[Fannie Mae]]></category><category><![CDATA[Freddie Mac Holdings]]></category><category><![CDATA[Goldman Sachs Group Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[JP Morgan Chase & Co.]]></category><category><![CDATA[Resolution Trust Corporation]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Wall Street's Unraveling ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/16/AR2008091602877.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/16/AR2008091602877.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Wall Street as we know it is kaput. It is not just that Merrill Lynch agreed to be purchased by Bank of America or that the legendary investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy or that the insurance giant AIG is floundering. It is not even that these events followed the failure of the investment bank Bear Stearns or the government's takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the largest mortgage lenders. What's really happened is that Wall Street's business model has collapsed. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Wall]]></category><category><![CDATA[Street's]]></category><category><![CDATA[Unraveling]]></category><category><![CDATA[Lehman Brothers Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[Wall Street]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bank of America Corporation]]></category><category><![CDATA[New York City]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[Fannie Mae]]></category><category><![CDATA[Freddie Mac Holdings]]></category><category><![CDATA[Goldman Sachs Group Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[New Jersey]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Health-Care Realism ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/09/AR2008090902520.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/09/AR2008090902520.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Unless you've been living in the Himalayas, you know that huge numbers of Americans -- 46 million last year -- lack health insurance. By impressive majorities, Americans regard this as a moral stain. At the Democratic National Convention, Sen. Ted Kennedy echoed the view of many that health care is a "right" that demands universal insurance. This completely understandable view is, I think, utterly wrong. Take note, Barack Obama and John McCain.<br clear="all"/><a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=4213102204873" target="_blank"><img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=4213102204873" border="0" vspace="5"></a> ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Health-Care]]></category><category><![CDATA[Realism]]></category><category><![CDATA[Medicare]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[John McCain]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Edward M. Kennedy]]></category><category><![CDATA[Democratic National Convention]]></category><category><![CDATA[Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation]]></category><category><![CDATA[Medicaid]]></category><category><![CDATA[The Brookings Institution]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Congressional Budget Office]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ The Real Economic Scorecard ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/02/AR2008090202437.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/02/AR2008090202437.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Just last week, the Census Bureau released its annual study of household incomes, poverty and health insurance -- often called the nation's "economic report card." Its hard numbers seemed to confirm how many Americans feel. Sure, we're prosperous, but prosperity is fraying. Except for the rich, living standards are stagnant. Poverty is up; health insurance coverage is down. Naturally, both Barack Obama and John McCain seized upon the report to claim that their policies would restore progress. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[The]]></category><category><![CDATA[Real]]></category><category><![CDATA[Economic]]></category><category><![CDATA[Scorecard]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[John McCain]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bill Clinton]]></category><category><![CDATA[Gary Burtless]]></category><category><![CDATA[Employee Benefit Research Institute]]></category><category><![CDATA[The Brookings Institution]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Census Bureau]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ The Rise Of Fantasy Politics ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/26/AR2008082603130.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/26/AR2008082603130.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ What we have here -- to borrow a line from the old movie "Cool Hand Luke" -- is a failure to communicate. By all rights, we should be having a fierce debate over the role of government. What should it do, for whom and why? What can we afford? Who should pay? These questions would suggest a campaign that seriously engages the future. Instead, we have a bidding war between candidates to see who can promise the most appealing package of new spending programs and tax cuts. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[The]]></category><category><![CDATA[Rise]]></category><category><![CDATA[Of]]></category><category><![CDATA[Fantasy]]></category><category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[John McCain]]></category><category><![CDATA[Medicare]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tax Policy Center]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Andrew Yarrow]]></category><category><![CDATA[Amtrak]]></category><category><![CDATA[Citizens Against Government Waste]]></category><category><![CDATA[Medicaid]]></category><category><![CDATA[The Brookings Institution]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ The Real China Threat ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/19/AR2008081902256.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/19/AR2008081902256.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Obsessed with rankings, Americans are bound to see the Beijing Olympics as a metaphor for a larger and more troubling question. Will China overtake the United States as the world's biggest economy? Well, stop worrying. It almost certainly will. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[The]]></category><category><![CDATA[Real]]></category><category><![CDATA[China]]></category><category><![CDATA[Threat]]></category><category><![CDATA[China]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Japan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Beijing]]></category><category><![CDATA[C. Fred Bergsten]]></category><category><![CDATA[Donald H. Straszheim]]></category><category><![CDATA[France]]></category><category><![CDATA[Goldman Sachs Group Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category><category><![CDATA[Peterson Institute]]></category><category><![CDATA[Roth Capital Partners LLC]]></category><category><![CDATA[South Korea]]></category><category><![CDATA[Sudan]]></category><category><![CDATA[World Trade Organization]]></category><category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ The Great Energy Confusion ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/12/AR2008081202825.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/12/AR2008081202825.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Forget about a candid national conversation on energy. As John McCain and Barack Obama campaigned last week, that much seemed clear. To lower oil prices (which were already dropping), Obama proposed releasing 10 percent of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. This is an atrocious idea. The SPR was intended as insurance against a catastrophic loss of oil from wars, embargoes, terrorism or natural disasters. It should not be manipulated cynically for political advantage. Earlier, McCain suggested suspending the 18.4-cents-a-gallon federal gasoline tax; that was another bad and expedient idea.<br clear="all"/><a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=4213102205240" target="_blank"><img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=4213102205240" border="0" vspace="5"></a> ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[The]]></category><category><![CDATA[Great]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[Confusion]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[John McCain]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Brett Smith]]></category><category><![CDATA[Phil Sharp]]></category><category><![CDATA[Canada]]></category><category><![CDATA[Center for Automotive Research]]></category><category><![CDATA[Mexico]]></category><category><![CDATA[Resources for the Future]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Democratic Party]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Energy Information Administration]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Political Perils of a 'Big Sort'? ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/05/AR2008080502933.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/05/AR2008080502933.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ People prefer to be with people like themselves. For all the celebration of "diversity," it's sameness that dominates. Most people favor friendships with those who have similar backgrounds, interests and values. It makes for more shared experiences, easier conversations and more comfortable silences. Despite many exceptions, the urge is nearly universal. It's human nature. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Political]]></category><category><![CDATA[Perils]]></category><category><![CDATA[of]]></category><category><![CDATA[a]]></category><category><![CDATA['Big]]></category><category><![CDATA[Sort'?]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bill Bishop]]></category><category><![CDATA[George W. Bush]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Al Gore]]></category><category><![CDATA[Arthur Schlesinger]]></category><category><![CDATA[Austin (Texas)]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[Dallas]]></category><category><![CDATA[John McCain]]></category><category><![CDATA[Minneapolis]]></category><category><![CDATA[Portland (Oregon)]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ralph Nader]]></category><category><![CDATA[Robert Cushing]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[Pew Research Center]]></category><category><![CDATA[University of Texas System]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ The Homeownership Obsession ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/29/AR2008072901964.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/29/AR2008072901964.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ The real lessons of the housing crisis have gotten lost. It's routinely portrayed as the financial system run amok; the housing market became a casino. The remedy, we're told, is to enact rules that prevent a repetition. All this is partly true. But it ignores a larger truth: Our infatuation with homeownership, embedded in dozens of government policies, has turned housing -- once a justifiable symbol of the American dream -- into something of a national nightmare. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[The]]></category><category><![CDATA[Homeownership]]></category><category><![CDATA[Obsession]]></category><category><![CDATA[Fannie Mae]]></category><category><![CDATA[Federal Housing Administration]]></category><category><![CDATA[Freddie Mac Holdings]]></category><category><![CDATA[Mark Zandi]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Department of the Treasury]]></category><category><![CDATA[Annamaria Lusardi]]></category><category><![CDATA[Olivia S. Mitchell]]></category><category><![CDATA[Dartmouth College]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development]]></category><category><![CDATA[University of Pennsylvania]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ A Depression? Hardly ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/22/AR2008072202115.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/22/AR2008072202115.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ The specter of depression stalks America. You hear the word repeatedly. Are we in a depression? If not, are we headed for one? The answer to the first question is no; the answer to the second is "almost certainly not." The use of "depression" to describe the economy is a case of rhetorical overkill that speaks volumes about today's widespread pessimism and anxiety. A short history lesson shows why. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[A]]></category><category><![CDATA[Depression?]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hardly]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Federal Reserve]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barry Eichengreen]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ben Bernanke]]></category><category><![CDATA[Nouriel Roubini]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[Citigroup Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[Fannie Mae]]></category><category><![CDATA[Freddie Mac Holdings]]></category><category><![CDATA[Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[National Bureau of Economic Research]]></category><category><![CDATA[New York University]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Department of the Treasury]]></category><category><![CDATA[University of California-Berkeley]]></category><category><![CDATA[Wachovia Corporation]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ A Baffling Global Economy ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/15/AR2008071502428.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/15/AR2008071502428.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ We've been having the wrong discussion about globalization. For years, we've argued over whether this or that industry and its workers might suffer from imports and whether the social costs were worth the economic gains from foreign products, technologies and investments. By and large, the answer has been yes. But the harder questions, I think, lie elsewhere. Is an increasingly interconnected world economy basically stable? Or does it generate periodic crises that harm everyone and spawn international conflict?<br clear="all"/><a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=4213102206116" target="_blank"><img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=4213102206116" border="0" vspace="5"></a> ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[A]]></category><category><![CDATA[Baffling]]></category><category><![CDATA[Global]]></category><category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[China]]></category><category><![CDATA[Harm Bandholz]]></category><category><![CDATA[Fannie Mae]]></category><category><![CDATA[Freddie Mac Holdings]]></category><category><![CDATA[Goldman Sachs Group Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[India]]></category><category><![CDATA[Japan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Reuters Group plc]]></category><category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category><category><![CDATA[Saudi Arabia]]></category><category><![CDATA[UniCredit SpA]]></category><category><![CDATA[University of Michigan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category><category><![CDATA[Asia]]></category><category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ The Candor Gap ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/08/AR2008070802464.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/08/AR2008070802464.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ It is one of our fondest political myths that elections allow us collectively to settle the "big issues." The truth is that there's often a bipartisan consensus to avoid the big issues, because they involve unpopular choices and conflicts. Elections become exercises in mass evasion; that certainly applies so far to the 2008 campaign. A case in point is America's population transformation. Few issues matter more for the country's future -- yet it's mostly ignored. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[The]]></category><category><![CDATA[Candor]]></category><category><![CDATA[Gap]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[Edward Telles]]></category><category><![CDATA[John McCain]]></category><category><![CDATA[Vilma Ortiz]]></category><category><![CDATA[Medicare]]></category><category><![CDATA[Neil Howe]]></category><category><![CDATA[Richard Jackson]]></category><category><![CDATA[Germany]]></category><category><![CDATA[Italy]]></category><category><![CDATA[Pew Hispanic Center]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[University of California-Los Angeles]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Who's Behind High Prices ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/30/AR2008063001901.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/30/AR2008063001901.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Tired of high gasoline prices and rising food costs? Well, here's a solution. Let's shoot the speculators. A chorus of politicians, including John McCain and Barack Obama, blames these financial slimeballs for piling into commodities markets and pushing prices to artificial and unconscionable levels. Gosh, if only it were that simple. Speculator-bashing is another exercise in scapegoating and grandstanding. Leading politicians either don't understand what's happening or don't want to acknowledge their own complicity. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Who's]]></category><category><![CDATA[Behind]]></category><category><![CDATA[High]]></category><category><![CDATA[Prices]]></category><category><![CDATA[China]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[John Mothersole]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[Joel Crane]]></category><category><![CDATA[John McCain]]></category><category><![CDATA[Michael Mussa]]></category><category><![CDATA[Deutsche Bank AG]]></category><category><![CDATA[Global Insight Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[India]]></category><category><![CDATA[Peterson Institute]]></category><category><![CDATA[Rio Tinto plc]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Energy Information Administration]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S.S.R.]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ The Return of Inflation? ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/23/AR2008062301830.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/23/AR2008062301830.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Forget the housing collapse, the "credit crunch" and -- in isolation -- higher oil prices. The real economic menace may be resurgent inflation, which is the broad rise of most prices. To understand why, some history helps. The government's worst domestic blunder since World War II was the unleashing of high inflation: In 1960, annual inflation was 1.4 percent; by 1979, it was 13.3 percent. This terrified Americans, who feared falling living standards. It also destabilized the economy, causing harsher recessions that culminated with 10.8 percent unemployment in 1982. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[The]]></category><category><![CDATA[Return]]></category><category><![CDATA[of]]></category><category><![CDATA[Inflation?]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ben Bernanke]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Federal Reserve]]></category><category><![CDATA[Joachim Fels]]></category><category><![CDATA[Milton Friedman]]></category><category><![CDATA[Richard Berner]]></category><category><![CDATA[China]]></category><category><![CDATA[India]]></category><category><![CDATA[Morgan Stanley]]></category><category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Vietnam]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Learning From the Oil Shock ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/17/AR2008061702010.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/17/AR2008061702010.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ We all know that gasoline is at $4 a gallon and that oil is at $135 a barrel. But if you think that's the end of the story, don't talk to economist Jeffrey Rubin of CIBC World Markets. By Rubin's reckoning, we've barely passed the halfway point on a steady march upward that will take gasoline to $7 a gallon and oil to $225 by 2012. Despite fluctuations, the underlying rise, he says, will have pervasive and surprising side effects. Among them:<br clear="all"/><a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=4213102206730" target="_blank"><img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=4213102206730" border="0" vspace="5"></a> ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Learning]]></category><category><![CDATA[From]]></category><category><![CDATA[the]]></category><category><![CDATA[Oil]]></category><category><![CDATA[Shock]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jeffrey Rubin]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[David Cole]]></category><category><![CDATA[Saudi Arabia]]></category><category><![CDATA[Larry Goldstein]]></category><category><![CDATA[Center for Automotive Research]]></category><category><![CDATA[China]]></category><category><![CDATA[CIBC World Markets Corp.]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy Policy Research Foundation]]></category><category><![CDATA[International Energy Agency]]></category><category><![CDATA[Japan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Kuwait]]></category><category><![CDATA[McKinsey Global Institute]]></category><category><![CDATA[Mexico]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Federal Reserve]]></category><category><![CDATA[United Arab Emirates]]></category><category><![CDATA[WardsAuto.com]]></category><category><![CDATA[Alaska]]></category><category><![CDATA[East Asia]]></category><category><![CDATA[Asia]]></category><category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ A Vote for McBama ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/10/AR2008061002528.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/10/AR2008061002528.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ For the party faithful, this is a sweet moment. They have their candidates and, whatever the obstacles, can still imagine victory in November. But the rest of us ought to remember that the politics of winning and governing often collide. The first involves maximizing popularity. The second requires farsighted choices that ultimately benefit the country but may initially hurt a president's approval ratings. What have we learned about the candidates' capacity for governing? Enough, I think, to temper the excitement. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[A]]></category><category><![CDATA[Vote]]></category><category><![CDATA[for]]></category><category><![CDATA[McBama]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[John McCain]]></category><category><![CDATA[George W. Bush]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[Politico.com]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bill Clinton]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Just Call It 'Cap-and-Tax' ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/01/AR2008060101913.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/01/AR2008060101913.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Mon, 02 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ We'll have to discard the old adage "Everyone talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it." It is inoperative in this era of global warming, because the whole point of controlling greenhouse gas emissions is to do something about the weather. This promises to be hard and perhaps futile, but there are good and bad ways of attempting it. One of the bad ways is cap-and-trade. Unfortunately, it's the darling of environmental groups and their political allies. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Just]]></category><category><![CDATA[Call]]></category><category><![CDATA[It]]></category><category><![CDATA['Cap-and-Tax']]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[George W. Bush]]></category><category><![CDATA[Environmental Defense]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Congressional Budget Office]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Energy Information Administration]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Rx for Global Poverty ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/27/AR2008052702554.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/27/AR2008052702554.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 28 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ What's the world's greatest moral challenge, as judged by its capacity to inflict human tragedy? It is not, I think, global warming, whose effects -- if they become as grim as predicted -- will occur over many years and provide societies time to adapt. A case can be made for preventing nuclear proliferation, which threatens untold deaths and a collapse of the world economy. But the most urgent present moral challenge, I submit, is the most obvious: global poverty. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Rx]]></category><category><![CDATA[for]]></category><category><![CDATA[Global]]></category><category><![CDATA[Poverty]]></category><category><![CDATA[China]]></category><category><![CDATA[Indonesia]]></category><category><![CDATA[Japan]]></category><category><![CDATA[South Korea]]></category><category><![CDATA[Lawrence Harrison]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Botswana]]></category><category><![CDATA[Brazil]]></category><category><![CDATA[Commission on Growth and Development]]></category><category><![CDATA[Malaysia]]></category><category><![CDATA[Malta]]></category><category><![CDATA[Mexico]]></category><category><![CDATA[Oman]]></category><category><![CDATA[Peru]]></category><category><![CDATA[Singapore]]></category><category><![CDATA[Taiwan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Thailand]]></category><category><![CDATA[The World Bank Group]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tufts University]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hong Kong]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Middle Class Jitters ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052102427.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052102427.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Thu, 22 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ We middle-class Americans are in a funk. "The overarching economic narrative of the 2008 campaign is the idea that life for the middle class has grown more difficult," writes Paul Taylor of the Pew Research Center, which recently published a massive report on middle-class anxieties. By its survey, more than half of Americans believe they either have not moved ahead in the past five years (25 percent) or have fallen behind (31 percent). Pew pronounces this "the most downbeat short-term assessment of personal progress in nearly half a century."<br clear="all"/><a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=4213102209577" target="_blank"><img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=4213102209577" border="0" vspace="5"></a> ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Middle]]></category><category><![CDATA[Class]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jitters]]></category><category><![CDATA[Peter Gosselin]]></category><category><![CDATA[Paul Taylor]]></category><category><![CDATA[Pew Research Center]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bill Clinton]]></category><category><![CDATA[Nan Mooney]]></category><category><![CDATA[Los Angeles Times]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Truth Serum on The Trail ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/13/AR2008051302304.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/13/AR2008051302304.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ It's been a blast, this presidential campaign. A great story, full of drama. But no one should think it's been honest. With the possible exception of Iraq -- a matter that compels candidates to face real issues -- the campaign has been an exercise in mass merchandising. Candidates make alluring promises (to "fix the economy," "defeat special interests" or "achieve energy independence") and offer freebies to voters (more tax cuts, health care, college aid). Complete the sale: That's the point. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Truth]]></category><category><![CDATA[Serum]]></category><category><![CDATA[on]]></category><category><![CDATA[The]]></category><category><![CDATA[Trail]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[John McCain]]></category><category><![CDATA[Medicaid]]></category><category><![CDATA[Medicare]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Sensible Stimulus ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/06/AR2008050602444.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/06/AR2008050602444.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ It's an election year, and partisan acrimony has escalated. Democrats and Republicans portray themselves as the nation's saviors against all the programmatic atrocities of the other side. Can we find a refuge of common-sense agreement amid this self-serving political din? Well, here's a proposal for the economy: Enact a temporary extension of unemployment insurance from the standard 26 weeks to 39 weeks. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Sensible]]></category><category><![CDATA[Stimulus]]></category><category><![CDATA[Gary Burtless]]></category><category><![CDATA[Maurice Emsellem]]></category><category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[The Brookings Institution]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Congressional Budget Office]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Start Drilling ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/29/AR2008042902394.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/29/AR2008042902394.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ What to do about oil? First it went from $60 to $80 a barrel, then from $80 to $100 and now to $120. Perhaps we can persuade OPEC to raise production, as some senators suggest; but this seems unlikely. The truth is that we're almost powerless to influence today's prices. We are because we didn't take sensible actions 10 or 20 years ago. If we persist, we will be even worse off in a decade or two. The first thing to do: Start drilling. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Start]]></category><category><![CDATA[Drilling]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[OPEC]]></category><category><![CDATA[Gulf of Mexico]]></category><category><![CDATA[Alaska]]></category><category><![CDATA[Douglas MacIntyre]]></category><category><![CDATA[Robbie Diamond]]></category><category><![CDATA[Robert Bryce]]></category><category><![CDATA[Arctic National Wildlife Refuge]]></category><category><![CDATA[Exxon Mobil Corporation]]></category><category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category><category><![CDATA[Saudi Arabia]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Energy Information Administration]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ The End of Shopping ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/22/AR2008042202520.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/22/AR2008042202520.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Transfixed by unruly financial markets, we may be missing the year's biggest economic story: the end of the Great American Shopping Spree. For the past quarter-century, Americans have been on an unprecedented consumption binge -- for cars, TVs, longer vacations. The consequences have been profound, and the passage to something different may not be an improvement.<br clear="all"/><a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=4213102209962" target="_blank"><img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=4213102209962" border="0" vspace="5"></a> ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[The]]></category><category><![CDATA[End]]></category><category><![CDATA[of]]></category><category><![CDATA[Shopping]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Stuart Vyse]]></category><category><![CDATA[Susan Sterne]]></category><category><![CDATA[Connecticut College]]></category><category><![CDATA[The New York Times Company]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Marching Backward on Trade ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/15/AR2008041502668.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/15/AR2008041502668.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Almost everyone wishes for a renaissance of American manufacturing, and none say so more loudly than the Democratic presidential candidates and Democratic members of Congress. The trouble is that their deeds don't match their words. They have blamed trade for almost anything that might ail the U.S. economy -- in particular, manufacturing -- when the opposite is now true: Only through expanded trade can the economy thrive and manufacturing stage a comeback. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Marching]]></category><category><![CDATA[Backward]]></category><category><![CDATA[on]]></category><category><![CDATA[Trade]]></category><category><![CDATA[Colombia]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[China]]></category><category><![CDATA[Chicago]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ron Bullock]]></category><category><![CDATA[Mexico]]></category><category><![CDATA[Arkansas]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iowa]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ohio]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ High Finance Laid Low ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/08/AR2008040802903.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/08/AR2008040802903.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Except for oil executives, no group of business leaders is now more resented than the titans of finance -- bankers, traders, hedge fund managers. They are blamed for the housing crisis, global financial turmoil and a possible recession. But this broad indictment, though true, is only half the story. The job of modern finance is to allocate Americans' nearly $2 trillion in annual savings to its most productive uses; the paradox of finance is that its virtues and vices come tightly packaged together. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[High]]></category><category><![CDATA[Finance]]></category><category><![CDATA[Laid]]></category><category><![CDATA[Low]]></category><category><![CDATA[Henry M. Paulson]]></category><category><![CDATA[Josh Lerner]]></category><category><![CDATA[Steven Kaplan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Wall Street]]></category><category><![CDATA[Commodity Futures Trading Commission]]></category><category><![CDATA[Harvard Business School]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Federal Reserve]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]]></category><category><![CDATA[University of Chicago]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ How Not To Save Housing ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/01/AR2008040102196.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/01/AR2008040102196.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ In politics, it is imperative to be seen as "doing good." The present housing crisis is a case in point, as Congress now seems increasingly intent on aiding millions of homeowners who can't easily pay their mortgages and may face foreclosure. This sort of rescue looks good, even though it is a bad idea and might perversely delay the housing recovery. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[How]]></category><category><![CDATA[Not]]></category><category><![CDATA[To]]></category><category><![CDATA[Save]]></category><category><![CDATA[Housing]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barney Frank]]></category><category><![CDATA[Federal Housing Administration]]></category><category><![CDATA[Kenneth Snowden]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. House Committee on Financial Services]]></category><category><![CDATA[University of North Carolina at Greensboro]]></category><category><![CDATA[Washington, DC]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Hold the Hysteria (For Now) ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/25/AR2008032502298.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/25/AR2008032502298.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Regarding the economy, it's hard not to notice this stark contrast: The "real economy" of spending, production and jobs -- though weakening -- is hardly in a state of collapse, but much of today's semi-hysterical commentary suggests that it is. Financial markets for stocks and bonds are described as being "in turmoil." People talk about a recession as if it were the second coming of Genghis Khan. Some whisper the dreaded word "depression." Meanwhile, Americans are expected to buy about 15 million vehicles in 2008; though down from 16.5 million in 2006, that's still a lot.<br clear="all"/><a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=4213102210253" target="_blank"><img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=4213102210253" border="0" vspace="5"></a> ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Hold]]></category><category><![CDATA[the]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hysteria]]></category><category><![CDATA[(For]]></category><category><![CDATA[Now)]]></category><category><![CDATA[Mark Zandi]]></category><category><![CDATA[Economy.com Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[The New York Times Company]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barry Eichengreen]]></category><category><![CDATA[Genghis Khan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Howard Silverblatt]]></category><category><![CDATA[Wall Street]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Federal Reserve]]></category><category><![CDATA[University of California-Berkeley]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ How This Crisis Is Different ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/17/AR2008031702150.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/17/AR2008031702150.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ It's said that we're in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Maybe. But remember the S&L crisis of the mid-1980s? Or the commercial banking crisis of the late 1980s (from 1988 to 1992, 905 banks failed). Or the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, which sent South Korea, Indonesia and other countries on a boom-bust rollercoaster? All were frightening. What distinguishes this crisis -- which brought down Bear Sterns over the weekend -- is that it involves the entire financial system, not just depository institutions, and it's more mystifying than any of its predecessors. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[How]]></category><category><![CDATA[This]]></category><category><![CDATA[Crisis]]></category><category><![CDATA[Is]]></category><category><![CDATA[Different]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Federal Reserve]]></category><category><![CDATA[JP Morgan Chase & Co.]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ OPEC's Triumph ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/11/AR2008031102461.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/11/AR2008031102461.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ For much of its 47-year existence, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has been a cartel in name only. It could not control oil prices because many of its members regularly breached the production quotas that were intended to regulate the market. So OPEC followed oil prices up and down, as supply and demand shifted. But now OPEC may be the real deal: a cartel that works. If so, that's bad news for the rest of the world. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[OPEC's]]></category><category><![CDATA[Triumph]]></category><category><![CDATA[OPEC]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Philip Verleger Jr.]]></category><category><![CDATA[China]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category><category><![CDATA[Saudi Arabia]]></category><category><![CDATA[Venezuela]]></category><category><![CDATA[Alaska]]></category><category><![CDATA[Larry Goldstein]]></category><category><![CDATA[Vienna]]></category><category><![CDATA[Brazil]]></category><category><![CDATA[Canada]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy Policy Research Foundation]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[Kazakhstan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Kuwait]]></category><category><![CDATA[Mexico]]></category><category><![CDATA[Nigeria]]></category><category><![CDATA[Norway]]></category><category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ The Housing Fix ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/04/AR2008030402330.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/04/AR2008030402330.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 05 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ "Decline in Home Prices Accelerates" ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[Robert J. Samuelson]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[The]]></category><category><![CDATA[Housing]]></category><category><![CDATA[Fix]]></category><category><![CDATA[Economy.com Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[Fannie Mae]]></category><category><![CDATA[Freddie Mac Holdings]]></category><category><![CDATA[The Wall Street Journal]]></category><category><![CDATA[Dallas]]></category><category><![CDATA[Detroit]]></category><category><![CDATA[Los Angeles]]></category><category><![CDATA[Mark Zandi]]></category><category><![CDATA[Miami]]></category><category><![CDATA[Minneapolis]]></category><category><![CDATA[Phoenix]]></category><category><![CDATA[Federal Housing Administration]]></category><category><![CDATA[National Association of REALTORS]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Federal Reserve]]></category></item>
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