The fall of the Berlin Wall provides a useful starting point for examining the public policies and private and corporate actions that led to the fall of the U.S. sub-prime mortgage market. These two events are like book-ends to a chapter in history that will entice historians for centuries. The work of three authors who have contributed to our understanding of this time are reviewed.

The US continues to print money which devalues each dollar in circulation. World money traders think the US is doing this deliberately, and market forces are driving the dollar down weekly. Traders in China, Japan, France and Russia are responding. They are making plans to dump their dollars for a world currency to protect themselves against further losses.

The global trade and world economy will possibly increase, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This statement was in contrast to the report that the group disseminated stating that the global trade will suffer a major downside in the up and coming years. The said increase was .25 percent higher compared to the initial IMF prediction last April.

The International Securities Exchange (ISE) has issued a proposal for reform to the the U.S. securities markets. See a high-level summary of the proposal here.