CAROLINE BAUM
Every time Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson updates us on the government’s efforts to stabilize the financial system and announces the latest twist in the Troubled Asset Relief Program, I get a sinking feeling in my stomach.

WILLIAM PESEK
Wandering around downtown Seoul the other night, I couldn't miss the irony of a song pumping out of a karaoke club: ``Turning Japanese.''

AMITY SHLAES
Every crisis has its heroes. For months now we've all been hearing about Walter Bagehot, whose 19th-century injunction to lend ``freely'' in a panic was cited by the Federal Reserve in its bailouts.