I LIBRI PER CAPIRE LA CRISI

One idea is we simply pay up! In The Trillion Dollar Meltdown, Charles Morris advises that we take the hit in one lump sum. A TRILLION DOLLAR lump sum. And what if that impressive lump sum isn't impressive enough? Morris covers that possibility in The TWO Trillion Dollar Meltdown (someone please stop him before he writes another book!)

Embrace the destruction. William Fleckenstein and Fred Sheean in Greenspan's Bubbles argue that we've been saved from bubbles one too many times. Let nature take it's course!

Simplify the system seems to be a theme several writers have raised. Both George Soros in The New Paradigm for Financial Markets or Richard Bookstaber in A Demon of Our Own Design argue that we should simplify financial instruments, and stop market participants from employing excessive leverage.

While simplification is attractive, in The Subprime Solution Robert Shiller not only outlines the causes of the subprime mess, he argues that this crisis shows us the desire to own a home is a problem calling out for a solution. He suggest the creation of a new class of financial product is needed, something he is calling "continuous-workout mortgages", where payments are dynamically adjusted according to an individuals ability to pay.

Back to basics. In Bad Money, Reckless Finance Kevin Phillips argues that we've let Wall Street and financial services dominate the US economy, and now it's time to revert to our roots, manufacturing. He is busily writing a follow up, Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism which seems to cast a wider net of blame.

A crash is inevitable. In Wealth, War and Wisdom Barton Biggs notes that we see systemic crashes about one a century. Its gonna, no, GOTTA happen!

And in the end, keep in mind that we're all in this together. In The Panic of 1907: Lessons Learned from the Markets Perfect Storm Robert Bruner & Sean Carr looked at one of the lesser known (but still very severe crashes), and showed how "collective action by leaders can arrest the spiral" . Everyone pitched in, pulled together and reduced the impact.