GFC and all that...

Hunter S. Thompson may be gone, but a lot of his acerbic, junk-yard dog attitude lives on in the work of my favorite US Journalist Matt Taibbi. I first discovered his semi-regular columns in US Rolling Stone, and I now follow the regular posting on his always-interesting blog.

Recently, he's been doing battle with Goldman-Sachs, and these bruising encounters have done a lot to shed some light on the bizarre global financial meltdown that we've all been infected with over the last 12 months. And will continue to be for the foreseeable future. His latest RS article- The Great American Bubble Machine - is now online, and if 7 pages of financial forensic surgery doesn't sound like your thing, here's just one little gem I bet you didn't know:

"By 2008, a barrel of oil was traded 27 times, on average, before it was actually delivered and consumed."

I never knew that, and if this sort of financial chicanery leaves you stunned, not to say paying a hell of a lot more for the petrol you shovel into your car every week - remember how petrol prices suddenly spiked last year? - get over and read Matt Taibbi. It might reinforce the sensation that big business has both hands in your pocket and won't stop until it fillets your wallet, but at least you'll have a better understanding of just how they are doing it.....