Miscellaneous

So how fucked up is the U.S. economy? Yesterday?s edition of the New Orleans Times-Picayune points to a disturbing answer.

The newspaper carried a Washington Post story about the prior evening?s failure of Washington Mutual, it?s seizure by federal regulators, and its sale to J.P. Morgan Chase. Since Washington Mutual was the nation?s largest thrift, you would think that this story would be front-page news.

But the editors of the Times-Picayune couldn?t make room for it on the front page. It was crowded out by several other stories about our sinking economy, including two front-page stories about the treasury secretary?s quest for a $700 billion blank check and three other Section A stories about the financial crisis. Nevertheless, the Times-Picayune editors found room in Section A for the Washington Mutual story, squeezing it in on page 7.