Best Business Commentary

Those Brits aren't crazy

You think only Britain is vulnerable to a bank run? says David Callaway in MarketWatch. “Don't bet on it.” The global financial system that has emerged over the past 15 years is “by far superior to anything in the past when things are going well,” but it’s “hugely vulnerable” to “little time bombs” like the U.S. housing meltdown. Britons lining up “in Depression-era, breadline formation” to draw their deposits from Northern Rock is just one offshoot of this unpredictable “global storm.” Add in “the real-time nature of news” revelations—real and bogus—and investor panic is a real possibility.

Long live the album

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Despite “what panicked record executives say,” the album is alive and well, says Philip Freeman in Los Angeles Times. People are still buying music “eight and 10 songs at a time, exactly as the artists intended.” Sure, certain popular genres “have always been, and will always be, about the perfect song,” but scads of music fans still love “being permitted into an artist’s world for an hour or so.” While “media types” are obsessed with “ultra-hip” early adopters, “serious fans” and “the poorer, less tech-savvy majority” will keep the format alive for some time. “That’s how it should be—and these are good times.”