telecoms x1000?

I vaguely recall during the telecom/dotcom bubble that many hardware companies were reporting huge sales but most were financed by the manufacturer and so there were crushing losses when buyers evaporated (doubly so because the equipment was often outdated by that time). Today's crisis feels like a giant version of that: manufacturing centered economies financed purchases by debtor/consumer economies. And gains from those purchases built up the capital to provide more financed purchases. Until the purchasing stopped...

natural resources

when does the paradigm shift from competing for resources by spending money (which seems positive and appropriate) to military action (destructive and wrong)?

$1b fraud?

Who is Markopolos's mini-Madoff?