Fed approves Chinese bank purchase of US bank

The Federal Reserve had a pretty good year:

FRANKFURT — The European Central Bank kept interest rates on hold on Thursday, waiting to see if a recession-hit economy perks up and whether an aggressive policy move by the Bank of Japan helps the eurozone. Investors’ attention will now shift to ECB President Mario Draghi’s news conference later this morning for any signals about the bank’s preparedness to lower borrowing costs for the 17-country eurozone in the coming months.

By Simon Johnson To fix a broken financial system – and to oversee its proper functioning in the future – you need experts.  Finance is complex and the people in charge need to know what they are doing.  One common problem, which is also manifest in the United States today, is that many of the leading experts still believe in some version of business-as-usual.

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER 2010-08-31T21:40:38Z WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve has approved a request by a Chinese sovereign wealth fund to acquire up to 10 percent of the voting shares of New York investment giant Morgan Stanley....