Deepwater Horizon - There Was 'Nobody in Charge'

Here's today's follow-on investigative piece from the Wall Street Journal about the Deepwater Horizon disaster. It takes you through the scenario of what happened, based on accounts from the survivors, their testimony to the Coast Guard, various internal documents, etc.

Deepwater Horizon - BP Decisions Set Stage for Disaster

I think the Wall Street Journal does a fabulous job of investigative reporting. Balanced. Fair. Interesting. Here's this morning's piece regarding the decisions that led up to the ongoing Deepwater Horizon disaster.

As my friend commented - considering the WSJ is a mouthpiece of corporate business, it doesn't seem to have tried to whitewash BP's role or glossed over the problems. Way to go, WSJ!

Financial Crisis: Michael Lewis & 'The Big Short'

If you've listened to Financial Crisis 101, below, then you know the vocabulary: subprime mortgages, derivatives, CDOs, and CDSs (and hopefully had a good time learning it). Now... hear how some clever analysts recognized the problems with subprime mortgages/ CDOs and talked the big investment houses into creating CDSs in order to bet against them. Some of these guys even tried to warn the SEC that there was a big storm a'comin'.

Michael Lewis talks about this in his new book "The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine" which he discusses on KQED's 'Forum' radio program. It's definitely worth a listen!