Economic security threat, effective oversight, Spain's success.

Here are my picks for the day.

I thought Obama did an excellent job on Tuesday night of reminding us why we elected him. By addressing the electorate successfully he showed to the hardcore Republican minority that they are politically in free-fall and that obstructionism won't pay.

However, here comes a sober editorial comment by the FT. Other news of the day do confirm that determination and forcefulness are not enough to prevent disaster from happening. (I was also underwhelmed by Geithner's interview with Jim Lehrer last night on PBS.)
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a0a13940-0384-11de-b405-000077b07658.html

The following article from the Washington Post about the CIA's take on the international situation stresses the political implications of the economic crisis, something I personally find more worrisome than the economic crisis itself.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/25/AR2009022503389.html?wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter

There is bad news coming out of GM. I honestly don't know what can be done with the American auto industry. Part of me wants to save jobs. Part of me sees that attempt as desperate. Here comes today's gloomy news. The following article is by the Associated Press.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/090226/earns_gm.html

And here is an interesting commentary frrm the WP highlighting the lack of the personnel and skills needed in federal agencies to guarantee effective oversight of the recovery programs.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/25/AR2009022503083.html?wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter

On ideas from other countries about what needs to be done, two articles from the FT, one about EU proposals for a new international regulatory framework:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/346c05c8-031d-11de-b405-000077b07658.html

the other about Spain's model for guaranteeing the banks' liqudity and solvency, which is proving to be quite successful
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d1a54fa8-035d-11de-b405-000077b07658.html