Of course, if we want to play... we know who to pay.

And, in the future, it seems there'll be fewer of 'em.

In a perceptive post yesterday, Robert Reich noted the resurgence of Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan as the premier investment banks on Wall Street:

...We've ended up with two giants that now have most of the casino to themselves, are playing with poker chips backed by taxpayers, and have a big say in what the rules of the game are to be... When JP Morgan repaid its federal bailout of $25 billion last month it was, like Goldman, freed from stricter government oversight. The freedom has also allowed JP, like Goldman, to take tougher and more vocal stands in Washington against proposed financial regulations they dislike.

It's not like these two will be the only game in town - it's just that most really big deals will be "exposed" to them in some way. And any politician on Capitol Hill undoubtedly will perk up and wag his tail every time their lobbyists and representatives come calling.

Like the U.S. in heady days after the Soviet Union fell, companies like JPMorgan and Goldman are among the sole remaining superpowers of the financial world. And, boy, do they know it.

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If the right person craps on a plate, others will line up for a serving.

Announcement that Steven Rattner will be leaving under a cloud his post as President Barack Obama's "car czar" has prompted some of the most breathless, intoned speculation - not to mention corkscrewing mitigation - since Elliott Spitzer got caught with his pants down.

Could it really be true?! Gosh! Oh, think of the shame!

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Odd little item in a Reuters story that the Justice Department is investigating the credit default swap market:

This astoundingly failed sector of our deeply troubled financial world is worth - gulp! - $26 trillion.

Yeah... with a 'T'. 

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No world-class jefe ogling teenage boo-tay at last week's G-8 meeting was surprised when Chinese President Hu Jintao ditched the pow-wow to rush home and deal with upheaval in one of that nation's far-western provinces.

Even though this G-8 was to be a kind of coming-out party, recognizing China's newfound global economic influence, other world leaders tacitly acknowledged the importance - and potential worldwide crisis - Chinese civil unrest entails:

The one thing that Beijing fears, the thing that successive governments in Peking have always feared, is anarchy in the provinces. As soon as the world recession started to bite last year, Beijing's first thoughts were how to remove the potential cause of trouble among unemployed immigrants to the cities back to the country and how to keep the countryside stable now that the safety valve of emigration to the industrial centres was no longer available. Little wonder that China has announced public spending programmes, rural assistance and social security schemes way beyond the dreams of even such counter-cyclical spenders as (British Prime Minister) Gordon Brown. [ Source: Independent ]

Troubles in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region between ethnic, Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese have been bubbling under the surface for years now. Although much of last week's violence was short-lived (but still smoldering) the toll was almost 200 dead and 1,700 injured.

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