Fine art needs a fine German castle.

In the very, very old days, the social value of private transportation was easy to figure. A person could go no farther in a day than he could walk; if he got where he was…

One way to report earnings.

This is earnings-report season for America’s banks, and lo, what signs and wonders it has wrought.

Goldman Sachs reported $1.66 billion in profits in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase posted $2.1 billion in earnings. Bank of America,…

English football's Manchester United may need a new sponsor.

As he often does, the comedian Andy Borowitz nailed it Monday on his online satire site, BorowitzReport.com:

In New Terror Video, AIG Demands Huge Ransom from U.S.
Shadowy Group Seeks Bonuses, Golf Retreats

American intelligence experts…

American automakers Chrysler and General Motors are asking for more government aid in their attempt to become “going concerns” again.

GM is expected to release its plan after 6 p.m. today. Chrysler is expected to follow. Both are required by the…

French president Nicolas Sarkozy today announced €600m ($786 million) in emergency aid for his country’s troubled newspaper industry and declared that every 18-year-old in France would get a year’s free subscription to the paper of their choice to boost reading…

In our colleague David Nicklaus’ column in Sunday’s Post-Dispatch, Stuart Greenbaum, professor emeritus at Washington University’s Olin School of Business, rose to the defense of the U.S. banking industry, which has been under fire for its continued tight-fisted lending policies.

“People not…

Like a gift from the Magi it arrived, just in time to soothe a tortured soul searching for a theme for a Christmas essay. The headline on the press release read:
“Why Christmas Should Be More Commercial.”
The subhead, or secondary, headline, read:
“Christmas…

Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg

So, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg wants Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat. Is she qualified? The New York Times takes a look at her resume. New York Daily News takes a look at her spirit. Is this the rebirth of the Kennedy dynasty? If…

GM's 1959 Caddy: Glory days.

America’s Big Three automakers sell (or lately, don’t sell) 15 different brands of vehicles, including 112 different car and truck models at more than 13,000 dealerships throughout the United States. All of these numbers are problematic and…

President-elect Obama and Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner (AP Photo by Charles Dharapak)

In a bizarre demonstration of how important confidence is to the health of the American economy, President George W. Bush and President-elect Barack Obama held back-to-back photo ops Monday, 90…

Violence in Congo continues. Will this be another Darfur; another Rwanda?

Silence from both the Obama and Clinton camps. Remember, last week it was reported that President-elect Barack Obama asked Sen. Hillary Cltinon, his one-time rival, to be his secretary of state. Vetting of…

Now comes the hard part. President-elect Barack Obama, having won a historic mandate for change, must make it happen.
He faces monumental problems: “Two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century,” as he put it in…

The Chrysler Fenton plant

The federal government may subsidize the merger of General Motors and Chrysler soon in the hope that combining these corporate clunkers might keep them out of the junkyard of bankruptcy.

Given the stakes — 315,000 jobs and benefits for…

Last week’s 18 percent stock market plunge was sparked by fear that the American economy is headed into a deep recession driven by a disastrous worldwide freeze-up of the credit system. Monday’s 11 percent rally reflected hope that the industrial…

As markets slump and banks totter, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has begun the tricky $700 billion task of saving the American financial system. Under the law enacted Friday, Mr. Paulson has 45 days to construct a program.
It’s a high-wire act in…

Wall Street on Monday rendered its verdict on the government’s $700 billion financial rescue plan. Put simply, the Street thinks it’s not enough.
The stock market rode a roller coaster. The Dow Jones industrial average was down more than 800 points at…

Seldom, if ever, has the American economy gone through a week like the one just passed.

It began with a $1.2 trillion loss on Wall Street as stocks dropped 8 percent in a single day. It ended with Congress passing and President…

Courtesy of CBS News

Pop quiz:
Below, you’ll find transcripts from two television interviews that aired last week. One comes from the interview of Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican nominee for vice president, by “CBS Evening News” anchor Katie Couric. The other…

Either the credit markets will seize up in the next few days, or they won’t.

Businesses either will get the short-term operating loans they need in the commercial paper market, or they won’t. Either they’ll get the money somewhere else (old-fashioned…