The Fed Is Propping Up The Economy

Very good read on ZeroHedge about how the Federal Reserve is basically responsible for the 'recovery' we've seen so far. If they were to pull out, everything would come crumbling down...

First Pass

Ratings shmatings. Do credit ratings mean anything anymore? [Clusterstock]
US budget deficit balloons [Reuters]
Goldman profiting from AIG's collapse [Zero Hedge]
GS conference call regarding relationship with AIG [WSJ]
Surprising retail numbers in Canada [Report on Business]
Next year, I'm going to get Barclays to do my taxes [Guardian UK]
Just in case your Friday is going too well, read this [Daily Reckoning]
Give Bernanke a run for his money [San Francisco Fed]