The financial debate during the past few days was dominated by President Obama’s sweeping revamp of financial market supervision, and this issue also occupies a number of slots in today’s Video-o-rama.

But it was not all about regulation, as pundits were also trying to figure out whether there were in fact economic “green shoots” and what the implications for financial markets might be. Commentators include Michael Lewis, John Rogers, Robert Kleinschmidt, Jack Welch, Barry Ritholtz, Nouriel Roubini, Stephen Roach, Mario Gabelli and George Friedman.

The compilation kicks off with author Michael Lewis discussing his article “The End of Wall Street”, and concludes with a fascinating analysis of the Iranian situation by George Friedman of Stratfor, geopolitical analysts.

You Tube: Michael Lewis - the end of Wall Street? “Author Michael Lewis discusses how his experience working at Salomon Brothers and writing Liar’s Poker influenced his article, ‘The End of Wall

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By Henny Sender in New York and Javier Blas in London

Published: March 8 2009 18:13 | Last updated: March 8 2009 18:13

Hedge fund investors who made money last year by betting against investment banks are now buying gold as a way of betting against central banks.

The gold bulls include David Einhorn, founder of hedge fund Greenlight Capital, who last year came under the spotlight for his short selling of shares in Lehman Brothers, after arguing that the bank did not have enough capital to offset its exposure to falling property prices. Other funds looking at gold include Eton Park and TPG-Axon, investors said.

Their belief in bullion is being expressed even as gold prices have retreated from last month’s break above the $1,000 an ounce level. Spot gold in London closed last Friday at $939.10, after falling last week to $900.95 an ounce.

Investors such as Mr Einhorn

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Roel Landingin and Javier Blas writing in the Financial Times:The Philippines failed to buy enough rice on Tuesday to boost its inventories and faced prices more than 40 per cent high­er than two months ago in the latest sign of a rapid tight­­ening of the global rice market.The failure underscores the risk that rice could be in short supply in south-east Asia countries, where the grain is a staple food. It also signals further food inflation pressures in the region, where consumer prices are rising quickly.The world’s largest rice exporters, including Vietnam, India and Egypt, have imposed foreign sales restrictions to keep their domestic markets well supplied, tightening further the global market. More curbs are likely in the coming months as the rice market faces strong demand and lagging supplies, the US Department of Agriculture has warned. Global rice stocks are set to ...