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For many Americans, the financial crisis, and the recession it spawned, have been devastating — jobs, homes, savings lost. Understandably, many people are calling for change. Yet change needs to be about creating a system that works better, not just differently. Link

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The dollar slumped to a 14-year low point against the yen on Thursday, prompting fears that a further surge could hurt a fragile recovery in Japan, the world’s second largest economy. Link

A congressional effort to enact swift rules to protect credit card consumers during the holiday shopping season is all but dead. Tough new rules are already slated to go into effect on Feb. 22. The new rules, enacted by President Obama in May, prohibit banks from hiking interest rates on existing balances of fixed-rate cards [...]

The Federal Reserve must retain its independence in setting monetary policy to contain the threat of inflation and avoid impeding the economic recovery, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said. Link

New studies are projecting that carbon dioxide emissions - greenhouse gas emissions - will decrease for the year 2009. That is thanks to the global recession. But the reprieve is small and expected to be short lived. Link

THE World Bank approved  a US$405 million loan to support the government’s social welfare reform agenda focused on education, poverty reduction and improve health condition. Link

If you are a fiduciary for your employer’s retirement savings plan, you already know that life isn’t getting any simpler. Lawsuits against plan fiduciaries are on the upswing, and some fiduciaries have been found personally liable for plan losses under ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Link