I was hoping for more from this piece than it ended up delivering. Reporter Kane face the same problem she saw for the candidates- this is a very complex issue without an obvious villain or identifiable solutions. Nevertheless, she calls out the candidates on not engaging with the issue in a critical way, in and of itself a value service.

This article has a good analysis of why the presidential candidates have been avoiding a huge issue facing the US; the credit crunch. The analysis is balanced and takes into account trends in previous elections. The author cites a political economy professor as saying that politicians don't like to talk about contentious topics. Another point is that politicians try to avoid problems the public, and they, barely understand. The article concludes with a hope that the issue will be brought up, because is is of seminal importance to the immediate future of the entire American economy.

This is an important issue but I wonder how if actually fits into a campaign where one side refuses to engage in issues on any meaningful level stating instead the this election with be about personalities.

Solid, well-sourced piece on how the massive liquidity problems at U.S. banks have not been addressed at all by the presidential candidates. Even though the credit crunch has crippled those at every level, from private consumer to the largest bank and even other country's economies, it has not become a campaign issue. Why? The reporter has gotten answers from many industry-related experts. Many credit-crunch stories written recently look at the personal tolls being taken by it -- home and job loss, bankruptcies, loss of purchasing power -- and they're effective at looking at the results of this crunch. This article looks at a completely different aspect of this huge problem -- an important and under-reported one -- in a clear, ... More »

Article does a nice job of presenting the political calculus of -not- talking about the elephant in the room, except in the most careful of generalities. It shows where they have commented, and draws attention to what they haven't said.

Credit is what the financial markets want - but credit is not good for America's economic health (it is like starting a new meth lab in Wasilla Alaska). It serves only to create bubbles which eventually lead to recessions--and God forbid, depressions. The problem is on the demand side--there ain't none. What has made this such a problem is free-trade which is not really free-trade but a cover for labor arbitraging.