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Ex-Treasury Secretary Summers warns of risks 'greater than any since aftermath of 9/11', reports Ambrose Evans-Pritchard # Subprime crisis in full # Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Prepare for the crunch Former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers warned that the United States may be heading into recession as the biggest victim to date of the sub-prime mortgage debacle was humiliatingly sold for a token sum in Germany. Traders are braced for another week of turmoil after the near breakdown of America's $2,200bn (£1,100bn) market for commercial paper. "It would be far too premature to judge this crisis over," Mr Summers said. "I would...

News Analysis What’s America’s energy IQ? “Not as high as it should be,” Dr. John Felmy told the Boca Raton News. “In fact, we were very surprised at how much confusion and misinformation was revealed by the survey.” There’s been a survey? What survey? Dr. Felmy smiles – the smile of a man who’s warming to his subject. The survey, conducted for the American Petroleum Institute (API) by well-known public opinion surveyors, Harris Interactive, shows that “most U.S. adults have a fundamental lack of knowledge regarding energy demand and supplies and the role of America's oil and natural gas companies,”...

On Oct. 30, America suffered its bloodiest day in Iraq since major combat operations ceased when a CH-47 "Chinook" helicopter was downed by a surface to air missile. Sixteen soldiers were killed. Not everyone in America was unhappy. "I hope the bloodshed continues in Iraq," said "Starpass," a poster on the Democratic Underground weblog. "The only way to get rid of this slime bag...government...relies heavily on what a s**t-hole Iraq turns into. (American soldiers) need to die...to show these ignorant, dumb Americans that Bush is incompetent." Most of the posters on the Democratic Underground criticized "Starpass," but a distressingly large...

Because George Bush's 2004 campaign has raised more money than all nine Democrat presidential candidates combined, the so-called D-9 demanded today that Mr. Bush redistribute his funds among his less fortunate rivals. "What made this country great is taking money from the wealthy, and giving it to the poor," according to a joint statement by the D-9. "If Bush is really a compassionate conservative, he will divide his re-election funds among us. As one of the founders of our party once wrote: 'From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.'" Under the Democrat redistribution plan, Al...

John le Carre, the author of some brilliant spy novels, writes in the Times of London that "America has entered one of its periods of historical madness." The present time is "worse than McCarthyism" and even worse than -- an odd choice -- "the Bay of Pigs." Maybe le Carre means the Cuban missile crisis. It's possible. After all, he gets so much else wrong. One, for starters, is his assertion that "88 per cent of the American people want" to go to war with Iraq. Where he got that figure is beyond me. The figure is 57 percent, down...

State Sen. Bill Hardiman plans to join the Legislative Black Caucus, even though he may not have a whole lot in common with them, politically speaking. Hardiman, a Kentwood Republican who is black, would be the first member of the GOP to become a member of the black caucus, which always has been made up of Democratic black legislators. "I'm looking forward to it," Hardiman said. "Obviously, I'm African-American and we hold some of the same roots and cultural views. But I think I can bring some perspective that might be different than theirs. I think we'll be able to...