The underlying reason for the Great Recession was that real household wages were incongruously flat or even declining, all through a boom fueled by an orgy of consumer spending (consumption and house-construction). Total social wealth grew strongly, but in the absence of a balanced sharing-out of that new wealth, it could only be financed by unsustainable consumer debt. It was really the bursting of that bubble, and not just reckless practices by banks, which caused the collapse in the financial structure.

When is a bank bailout not a bailout? When the Canadian Bankers' Association President, Nancy Hughes Anthony says so. In her letter to the Vancouver Sun (which published my blog on the issue) Hughes Anthony points out that not a single bank went bankrupt and therefore did not require a bail out.

by Zach Carter, Media Consortium MediaWire Blogger

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner rolled out his new Wall Street bailout plan on Monday and the progressive verdict is already in: This bailout doesn't look much better than the last one. In fact, Geithner's latest plan isn't much different from several other flawed proposals policymakers have floated over the past year. At its core, Geithner's program is just another attempt buy up "toxic assets" from banks at inflated prices.