Links for Saturday, September 20, 2008

• William Greider: Paulson Bailout Plan a Historic Swindle – “*If Wall Street gets away with this, it will represent an historic swindle of the American public–all sugar for the villains, lasting pain and damage for the victims. *“
• Steve Fraser: Wall St. And Washington – “*The government must figure out how to deploy its power to shift the flow of investment capital out of the minefields of speculative paper transactions and back into productive channels that will help meet the material needs of American society. Real value must be created in place of chimeras. *“
• Mitch Wagner: Second Life Tries For A Second Act – “*Second Life stuck around too. It’s profitable, and it’s hanging on to a core of dedicated users. The internal economy of Second Life users exchanging virtual goods and services is growing. And, perhaps most important of all, the unquantifiable creative soup of Second Life continues at a rolling boil, with new businesses and activities and art popping up every day. *“
• Wall Street Journal: Shock Forced Paulson’s Hand – “When government officials surveyed the flailing American financial system this week, they didn’t see only a collapsed investment bank or the surrender of a giant insurance firm. They saw the circulatory system of the U.S. economy — credit markets — starting to fail.“