In order to promote a much smoother functioning of the financial system, it is paramount to distinguish between the immediate steps needed to cope with the present crisis and the long-run reforms needed to reduce the likelihood of future crises...

The Federal government of the United States has seldom taken an equity interest in private companies, although this has been proposed sometimes, especially as a way to get higher returns on social security assets...

The U.S. may be heading for its worst recession in at least a quarter century as the credit crisis forces employers across the country to cut workers and ratchet back spending...

As an anxious world waits and wonders, Congress prepares to reconsider the $700 billion question: Should taxpayers prop up the financial sector?...