The Current Discussion: Does the crisis on Wall Street mean that the American style of capitalism is no longer the model for the world?

I have lost very little money for two reasons: One, I didn't have a lot; Two, I never bought shares. So I assume I am among the very few lucky ones whose personal concerns in this crisis are limited.

There is a saying in Hebrew that suckers never die, they are only replaced. The gospel spread from Wall Street to the rest of the world has been very simple: Trust us, the spin economic doctors. We know what we are doing. And sure enough, there have been sufficient herds, numbering in the hundreds of millions around the globe, who believe them. They refuse to learn from history, or from the lessons of 1929 and of all the other black days since then, when stock exchanges collapsed time after time. There has been always enough fresh blood to believe that it won't happen again or it won't happen to us. Suckers never die.

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The Current Discussion: Are Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama on a collision course over Iran and the Palestinian problem? What would be the consequences of a breach between the United States and Israel?

Yes, with a capital 'Y', the two countries seem to be on a collision course these days.

From President Obama to Vice President Biden to Secretary of State Clinton to National Security Advisor Jones, the message is clear: Israel must enhance peace talks with the Palestinians in order to fulfill its own previous governments' commitments to a "two-state solution," i.e. an Israeli state side-by-side in peace and security with a Palestinian state. That means Israel has to dismantle all Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and hand the territory over to the Palestinians.

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