Yesterday, I wrote about the aura of contrition surrounding the financial types here, wafting off them like cheap cologne on a disco Lothario. Today, at a gathering of international editors and reporters, the contrition had spread to financial journalists. There was the sense that many had missed the boat, failing to ask the tough questions. The widespread contrition is matched by an unnerving feeling of paralysis. The people here -- and we are talking about some of the most influential people on the planet -- seem at a loss about how to attack the financial crisis. It's as if we are watching things unravel -- but are powerless to stop the unraveling. If bankers and politicians were stocks, Davos attendees would be shorting them.
American business journalism has been too American with too much reporting on companies and too little reporting on finance and the markets that have such a profound impact on our lives.
Up until the age of 76, Updike never stopped working, turning out a vast body of words. But nothing can top the astonishing piece he wrote on Ted Williams' final game.
While I respect the opinions of those who oppose abortion, I do not understand why those same leaders would then oppose policies proven to reduce abortions.
The banks didn't exactly start making loans again, after we gave them those other billions, to make loans. Probably the best thing to do is just give them whatever they want and hope for the best.
Tom Harkin was asked to lead a group with the task of crafting the prevention and public-health components of Obama's health-care-reform bill. He spoke with me about his vision for healthcare reform.
I was so proud and honored to stand with my colleagues beside the president this morning as he put pen to paper, signed his name, and enacted the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
Along with the enduring celebration of thinly-disguised homoeroticism comes the even more enduring anticipation of the commercials that NBC will broadcast.
Good CEOs earn their pay by creating jobs and shareholder value -- and as importantly they get good press for their companies.
Obama's calling Wall Street bonuses "shameful" and citing Wall Street's actions as the "height of irresponsibility" may signal a significant shift in the government's tone towards corporate culture.
While Republicans are free to oppose Obama's solutions to the financial mess if they think they have better ideas, merely advocating the old failed policies should not be tolerated.
If we learn nothing from this crisis, then all the pain and suffering it is causing will be in vain. But if we can learn new habits of the heart, perhaps that suffering can even turn out to be redemptive.
The banks are being nationalized. The government is buying up potentially trillions in private assets. We may be seeing the largest expansion of welfare since. And the rich are under house arrest.
Obama understands the essence of diplomacy: to step out of your own shoes and into the minds of the others around the table, with the goal of achieving your own interests by influencing their minds.
Muslims may seem too eager to seize on Obama's middle name, but Hussein is more than a symbol -- it's a crack in the wall that has kept Islam apart for so long.
While most eyes were on the then impending vote on Obama's economic revival program, the new president ventured out to the Pentagon for his first meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff yesterday.
I can't believe I am this close to a woman I saw last year, half naked, suspended on a bed from the ceiling of the Metropolitan Opera.
What the hell happens on a $35,000 toilet that makes it so special? While you're sitting on it, does it magically transport you to the Maldives?
The people who got everything wrong for at least the last eight years and then spent the better part of the week spreading misinformation are demanding to be taken seriously? That's rich.
