Features of the week

A taste of what's to come in this Friday's, "Features of the week".

From BusinessWeek, Maria Bartiromo's recent interview with Jim Rogers:

"MARIA BARTIROMO

What do you think of the government's response to the economic crisis?

JIM ROGERS

Terrible. They're making it worse. It's pretty embarrassing for President Obama, who doesn't seem to have a clue what's going on—which would make sense from his background. And he has hired people who are part of the problem. [Treasury Secretary Tim] Geithner was head of the New York Fed, which was supposedly in charge of Wall Street and the banks more than anybody else. And as you remember, [Obama's chief economic adviser, Larry] Summers helped bail out Long-Term Capital Management years ago. These are people who think the only solution is to save their friends on Wall Street rather than to save 300 million Americans.

So what should they be doing?

What would I like to see happen? I'd like to see them let these people go bankrupt, let the bankrupt go bankrupt, stop bailing them out. There are plenty of banks in America that saw this coming, that kept their powder dry and have been waiting for the opportunity to go in and take over the assets of the incompetent. Likewise, many, many homeowners didn't go out and buy five homes with no income. Many homeowners have been waiting for this, and now all of a sudden the government is saying: "Well, too bad for you. We don't care if you did it right or not, we're going to bail out the 100,000 or 200,000 who did it wrong." I mean, this is outrageous economics, and it's terrible morality."

Read on for more in the following "Features" links.

1. Jim Rogers doesn't mince words - BusinessWeek interview.

2. Banks that shunned subprime must pay for Wall Street's greed.

3. Can US tax authorities break Swiss bank secrecy?

4. Next in line for bailout? Life insurance companies.

5. Is spending the answer? Ron Paul on government economics.

6. Questions for Dambisa Moyo: The Anti-Bono.

7. Market due for relief? Bears call for a rally.

8. Chart: Bonds beat stocks in "earth-shattering" reversal.

9. Hedge fund destruction is the route to industry's salvation.

10. Back door bailouts for Goldman Sachs?

11. China stimulus can't pull world out of the hole: Jim Rogers.

12. US unemployment hits 8.1%, highest since 1983.

13. The $28M chair: mad hatter or new harbinger?

14. Carlos Ghosn speaks with FT.com from the Geneva auto show.

See also: (a) Photos from the 2009 Geneva motor show.

(b) Geneva motor show: best of times, worst of times.

Thanks for reading Finance Trends Matter. Have a great weekend and join us again next week!

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