Matthew Winkler
10/28/2010

Big banks don’t want you to know which of them went to the Fed for emergency help, writes Winkler. The Clearing House Association, which represents 20 of the country’s biggest commercial banks, is asking the Supreme Court to keep the bailout secret. Current law doesn’t require the Fed to disclose information about loans from its discount window. But such disclosure would show whether the central bank may have violated the law by lending to any insolvent banks for extended periods. Greater transparency would yield greater accountability–and more reason for taxpayers to trust the banks they helped save. Most importantly, it would give fragile markets a better chance to recover with new jobs financed by confident investors.

Winkler is the editor in chief of Bloomberg News.

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Jackson Diehl
10/25/2010

The technology created by UltraReach and its affiliate, Freegate, works as it is intended: it allows internet users in China, Iran, and other countries where the internet is heavily regulated to breach firewalls and surf the web at will. In fact, millions more internet users under dictatorships worldwide could benefit from UltraReach’s software, but at least $30 million in funding is required. That money actually does exist in the form of $50 million in earmarks in the State Department’s budget. Despite rhetoric supporting freedom of the internet, the money sits unused while the “strategy” for its usage is honed. Diehl suggests that the hesitation to act is partially due to a fear of offending China. Regardless, the State Department has a poor record when it comes to promoting freedom of the internet.

Diehl is deputy editorial page editor of The Post.

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Ross Douthat
10/25/2010

Rage about the Wall Street bailouts is what fueled the birth of the Tea Party and an anti-Obama movement. Douthat looks at what the bailout cost, however, and says it may actually cost the taxpayer less than $50 billion over all, rather than the $700 billion originally set aside to pay for it. The problem with the bailout wasn’t the end game, which may have saved America from 15 percent unemployment, but how it implicated the government in crony capitalism. Although it was necessary and it worked, it did damage to the credibility of Wall Street and Washington.

Douthat is a New York Times columnist.

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Anne Applebaum
10/22/2010

It is generally thought that nations are becoming more globalized and therefore more alike, but the response of British and French citizens to their respective country’s economic situation is perfectly in tune with each country’s national character. Historical experience may play a role, as the British remember war-time rationing fondly, while the French have a history of getting much accomplished via street protests. Both country’s political scenes have an effect as well: French authorities spend money on expensive art and travel, while the British have a coalition government with a broad pool of citizenry with varying sympathies. Time will tell, but national character will determine how each nation deals with its problems.

Applebaum is a weekly columnist for The Post, writing on foreign affairs.

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Daniel Henninger
10/21/2010

Henninger writes about what he calls a rare chance to defuse the pension bomb. New York, like many other once-important states, is sitting on a public pension debt bomb. If it blows, it will take great swaths of the productive American economy with it for years. Harry Wilson says he can defuse the New York bomb. If Harry Wilson can get the public-pension death spiral under control in New York–and he just might have the professional and intellectual tools to do it–it should be possible to reform pensions in any state. Henninger concludes that it should be possible for a Cuomo-Wilson alliance to fix another failing American state.

Henninger writes ‘Wonder Land’ for the Journal.

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Zalmay Khalilzad
10/20/2010

Although Pakistan has and continues to do a lot of good in the war on terror, it continues to give only sanctuary and support to the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani terrorist network. This hampers American military efforts while contributing to American and Afghan deaths and has helped to sour relations between the two countries. Current American policy with Pakistan is not working. Washington must offer Pakistan a stark choice between positive incentives and negative consequences. Khalilzad offers a number of examples.

Khalilzad, a counselor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the president of a consulting firm, was the ambassador to Afghanistan, Ira, and the United Nations during the George W. Bush administration.

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Thomas L. Friedman
10/20/2010

Friedman gives several reasons why President Obama is not anti-Israel. These include building a global coalition to stop Iran from making a nuclear weapon and trying to advance the peace process in the Middle East to get Europeans and the UN behind tougher sanctions on Iran. It is not an act of hostility to ask Israel to continue its expired 10-month partial moratorium on settlement-building in the West Bank to prevent Palestinians from avoiding peace talks, but Israel’s prime minister has been resisting this request or demanding a payoff from the US for continuing the freeze. Friedman gives two reasons why he is wrong to do so. He says president Obama is doing his job and Palestine and Israel’s leaders should do theirs and work for peace during this process.

Friedman is a New York Times columnist.

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Barbara Novick
10/18/2010

A special bankruptcy law could help borrowers while letting housing markets clear, says Novick. But any resolution of the housing crisis needs to respect the rights of everyone–investors, borrowers, lenders, and taxpayers. Foreclosure moratoriums, failed mortgage modifications, and principal forgiveness programs delay resolution. Worse, they create more losses for investors, homeowners, and taxpayers, yet fail to keep delinquent borrowers in their homes.

Novick is vice chairman of BlackRock, a global investment management firm based in New York City.

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Paul Krugman
10/15/2010

The latest in the mortgage foreclosure crisis is that many servicers, or companies that collect payments on behalf of mortgage owners, who have been foreclosing on many mortgages and seizing homes have been ignoring the law and doing so without required documentation and in some cases seizing homes that were not in default. Significant numbers of borrowers are being defrauded by these trusts. Krugman says this could create another financial morass. The Obama administration’s response has been to oppose any action that would upset the banks, while Republicans have asked Americans to trust the banks. Krugman says this is unacceptable. Where no clear property rights exist, it’s the government’s job to create them because what we are doing now is not working.

Krugman is a New York Times columnist.

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