By Rowan Wolf

I highly recommend reading a new article by Naomi Klein in the 11/13/08 Rolling Stone - The New Trough (or here). At the heart of the story is the person selected to handle the $700 billion bailout - Reuben Jeffery III. Jeffery was the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq under Paul Bremmer. Klein exposes the links between the approach to corporatizing Iraq and what is happening with our massive bailout of the financial industry.

As a followup article, I would suggest Amit Paley's article A Quiet Windfall For U.S. Banks (Wa. Post 11/10/08). It points out the little $140 billion windfall that Paulson has just handed over to the banking industry.