links for 2010-05-03

The whole exercise proved how removed Goldman and Wall Street are from the most basic standards by which the rest of us to do business, and how unaware they seemed to be of it. Except occasionally for Blankfein and Viniar, Goldman’s witnesses couldn’t say whether what they were doing was right or wrong, or whether they were obliged to tell the truth to clients about deals they were selling them.

If you think about, it's none too surprising that the end of the recession hasn't made the economy feel all that great for many in the United States. If you remember way back before this recession, the economy wasn't all that great either. In fact, the U.S., like most of the developed world, had compiled a long list of chronic economic problems.