The Opinion Blog

Gramm hands McCain an economics bum steer

Ripped from the wires ... Froma Harrop exposes the flaws in McCain-o-nomics:

By FROMA HARROP

"The fundamentals of our economy are strong,'' John McCain said as Wall Street went into white-knuckle panic over diving investor confidence. Does he believe that? It doesn't really matter, because the Republican has outsourced his economic policy to the ideologues whose opposition to regulations brought the financial markets to their knees.

We need to invest in our future, not just bet on it

Ripped from the wires ... Tom Friedman explains what went wrong with Wall Street and how we can fix it:

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Watching some financial stocks just get wiped out in recent months, I often hear a voice in the back of my head, and it is the same voice as one of those dealers in Las Vegas who coolly tells you as he sweeps up your chips after you've busted in blackjack: "Thank you for playing, ladies and gentlemen.''

Hmmm... Gold not such a hot deal after all

Friends: Looks like I had the right take on gold in our discussion of good investments of a few weeks ago. I sure hope you gold fans didn't buy high:

Gold, which scorched into the record books earlier this year, has suddenly gone cold.

Prices for the precious metal - which touched $1,000 an ounce for the first time in March - have plunged in recent weeks, and on Friday tumbled below $800 for the first time since late last year. It has been a sharp reversal for a bellwether of the commodities boom that only months ago seemed poised to soar to uncharted heights.