“The Big Takeover” by Matt Taibbi is probably the best article written to date explaining the financial crisis and how we got to where we are now. Taibbi’s necessarily lengthy article explains the problems, names the “poipetrators”, and exposes all of the conflicts of interest— absolutely a must read.

AIG, Goldman Sachs, and J. P. Morgan turn out to be the major players causing perhaps the greatest financial crisis in modern history— even if the pain is unlikely to get near Great Depression proportions, the dollar losses to individual investors have certainly gone as far.

JPM was the brewmeister of the CDO, a vat full of various kinds of income securities, determined to be less risky because the income on most would almost certainly keep flowing— kind of like the once popular junk bond fund that Wall Street insisted was not risky …

“Made in China” is a hair-trigger slogan that would often ignite a tirade about lost jobs, junky products and sweatshop labor. Well, it looks like “Made in China” will be a relic of the past as the Communist Party goes up-market.

The People’s Daily reported today that China’s Coordination Bureau under Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) will replace “Made in China” with “Created in China.” The intent is show the world that China is no longer a copycat maker of disposable junk, but has risen to become a true manufacturing innovator.

Why should investors care?

Because China’s transition to a high-quality manufacturer comes at a time when the economy is softening — perhaps prolonging a slump in stocks, real estate and exports.

For example, the Wall Street Journal ran a story today that speculated China’s economy could be worse than stated by government agencies.

China’s economic policy has been to maintain a minimum

Every new controversy demands a look at similar situations of the past. Just what is a bailout anyway? In the early 80’s, Lee Iacocca arranged a government loan and tax concessions to bring Chrysler Corporation back from the brink of bankruptcy— during the Carter Administration, to save you a Google.

The economic domino effect of a major corporate death was clear, and Congress acted wisely when it saved this American icon from extinction— the loans were repaid. But was it poor management or shortsighted government that caused the problem. Politicians massaged and empowered the labor unions, implemented minimum wage legislation, and protected the steel industry from foreign competition.

Similar financial problems existed throughout the automotive industry and lower cost, better product was just starting to come ashore. Bailout or fix-up? Voteless corporations were perfect patsies then, and remain so today. But …