A column in today’s Washington Post must be read by anyone who cares about dealing with the reality of our ongoing financial and economic crisis.  It’s by Barry Ritholtz and entitled “Stop Throwing Money at the Problem.”  

Here are a few highlights:

“Many investors assumed the Wall Street bailouts of Bank of America and the other big banks more or less healed the sector. All it took was few trillion dollars in liquidity and a few $100 billion in recapitalization. Voila!

“In fact, the banking system was not saved. The massive injections of liquidity temporarily salved the day-to-day operations of banks, but they did not repair the more profound troubles. Indeed, pouring billions into nearly identical management teams that mismanaged risk, overleveraged exposure and drove banks off the cliff in the first place was an invitation for another crisis.”

Be scared, be very scared, but read the entire column.