This piece published today by Project Syndicate is as insightful a critique as I've seen of the consensus that has emerged among policymakers that government deficits must be cut to restore economic growth.

Not that we haven't taken a stab at that ourselves.

A survey released today by the Association of Financial Professionals will do nothing to dampen the austerity versus stimulus debate.

To wit: Forty-three percent of US corporations had larger US cash and short-term investment holdings this May than they did six months earlier. Only 24 percent of respondents reported that their short-term holdings had shrunk during the past six months.

So much for those dire forecasts calling for massive defaults of junk bonds.

Fitch Ratings says the pace of high yield defaults has slowed so dramatically in 2010 they have even defied the most optimistic forecasts.

I really don't understand what the Times means when it says the European Central Bank lacks certain powers that the Federal Reserve has.

Yes, the ECB lacks the Fed's dual mandate: The ECB's mission is price stability alone, not that plus full employment. Nor does it have access to a government treasury. But what practical effect does any of this have? None that I can see.

The violent backlash against the rescue plan that Europe has come up with for Greece should be a warning sign for those who think the bond market should rule public policy.

Yes, Greece must get its act together in terms of the black market and corruption, and tighten its belt on public finances. It simply has no other choice. But austerity isn't going to help the country repay its debt, not when the global economy continues to suffer from weak demand.

What does the recent "spike" in bond yields really mean? To listen to folks like Greenspan or Robert Samuelson, it means investors are worried about US creditworthiness.

And while I've gone on about this twice the past few days, here's a more useful reality check, courtesy of James Hamilton, a professor of finance at the University of California at San Diego who the Fed actually pays some attention to.

I see Bloomberg can't resist interviewing Alan Greenspan about the perils of federal budget deficits, because the former Maestro's crystal ball is just so marvelously clear that he accurately predicted the housing crisis, which he did nothing to create, and took majorly serious steps to forestall it.

Oh, none of that last clause is true? And the ex-Fedster went so far as offer the markets the "Greenspan put," which is the ultimate "too big to fail" deal when you think about it?

The currency swaps that Goldman sold Greece to hide its debt could lead to fraud charges in the US after all.

The swaps were issued and sold abroad, and thus did not have to be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. But bonds subsequently issued by Greece and underwritten by Goldman and other US banks would be subject to SEC disclosure requirements if sold to sophisticated investors in the US, otherwise known as "qualified institutional buyers."

James Galbraith provides much-needed clarification of a point that has been obscured in the debate, if that's the right term, over the federal budget deficit at a time of recession.

And that is that when it comes to the economy, the government is more like a bank than a family household, in contrast to those who argue that the budget should be balanced at all times, and especially when times get tough. Even President Obama echoed that view in his State of the Union address when he said the government should "live within its means."

Newspaper company McClatchy is the latest example of how companies with weak balance sheets operating in industries undergoing upheaval have been able to survive the financial crisis thanks to accommodating credit markets.

Standard & Poor's upgraded the company's credit rating to B- from CC, while Moody's upgraded it to Caa1 from Caa2 after it raised new debt and refinanced a credit facility, which helped extend maturities.

"The upgrades reflect McClatchy's improved liquidity position and reduced near-term default risk following completion of the company's refinancing and its ability to stabilize EBITDA performance through significant cost reductions," Moody's wrote in a press release Thursday.