It is old news that the S&P rating agency downgraded the US foreign-credit rating from the coveted AAA to the less impressive AA+ on August 5. But as Republicans look ahead to the possibility that they might defeat Obama, they will inevitably seek ways to recover the exalted AAA status. If history is any guide, repairing the damage done to the U.S. bond rating will be a long, hard slog.

There currentcredit crisis is growing, but it is possible that buying bonds may ease the situation.

Now that the worst of the housing slowdown is over, potential homeowners have something new to worry about: the subprime mortgage market.

Micromanagement of capital standards is no substitute for a regulatory process that encourages banks and bank debtholders to measure risk exposures properly.

Michael Lewis's best-selling book The Big Short raises questions about the validity of the ideas underpinning the financial regulation legislation Congress is now considering.

There is little evidence that deregulation or banks' compensation practices caused the financial crisis.

Instead of trying to find ways that government can remain involved in housing finance, the new Congress should consider how to withdraw the government from any role in financing prime mortgages and implement various promising private-financing mechanisms--covered bonds, the Danish system, and a more focused and regulated securitization system.

The Basel Committee attempted flexibility for banks in complying with new capital standards and incentives to strengthen internal systems for measuring, monitoring and controlling risk.