Sandy B. Lewis and William D. Cohan do just that in an op-ed piece headlined, The Economy is Still at the Brink, in Saturday’s New York Times.  It’s a shame that the editors at the Times decided to run their important message in Saturday’s edition rather than Monday morning when it might have attracted more attention from the likes of CNBC or the day’s cable news cycle.  Cast against the constant stream of “Everything’s Fine,” from the Obama Administration to the likes of Jim Cramer, Lewis and Cohan’s message is succinct and important to the long run of the U.S. economy.

In short, the pair are telling us that the structural issues with American high finance are still there, Bush and Obama Administration efforts to staunch the bleeding are merely fingers in Wall Street’s dike, the current system is too heavily weighted in favor of ‘insiders’ and a program of real reform is needed to restore full confidence and ensure a system that works for all levels of the economy.

Here are some take aways from their piece:

• If nearly everyone agreed six months ago that our banking system was a sham, why is every government program or action directed at preserving the old order?  Lewis and Cohan say to start with compensating executives well for moving the ball, but create a system where their net worth is tied to their failures as well.
• The writers wonder why so many federal resources are going to propping up those at the top of the financial pyramid – the big banks and insurers – when recovery will come only when the bottom of the pyramid gets more confident.
• Rather than talk of the “imminent return” of the “good times” President Barack Obama should be messaging America with “living within our means.”
• For the “long term health of the market” shareholders and other investors in the big banks need to feel the “market’s wrath.”  No more rescues for the banks that created the mess.
• More market discipline and fewer government bailouts – where will the federal government draw the line?
• Fewer academics should be advising the president and he should make room for more folks saavy in trading and markets – not to have the fox guard the henhouse, but to design incentives that will work to revive the capital markets.
• More transparency in the entire system – from providing the same real-time market information to citizens that’s available to Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley – to replacing the marketing exercise known as financialstability.gov with real information.
• Go after the bigwigs who brought this pox upon us – either through truth commissions or the same way the FBI prosecutes the mafia.

There’s a lot more detail in what Cohan and Lewis wrote – go check it out.

From Bloomberg:

The U.S. economy will enter “hyperinflation” approaching the levels in Zimbabwe because the Federal Reserve will be reluctant to raise interest rates, investor Marc Faber said.

Prices may increase at rates “close to” Zimbabwe’s gains, Faber said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Hong Kong. Zimbabwe’s inflation rate reached 231 million percent in July, the last annual rate published by the statistics office.

“I am 100 percent sure that the U.S. will go into hyperinflation,” Faber said. “The problem with government debt growing so much is that when the time will come and the Fed should increase interest rates, they will be very reluctant to do so and so inflation will start to accelerate.”

From Reuters:

Roubini stood by a recent article in which he mentioned the possibility of a “perfect storm” in 2010.

“There is even a risk of a double dip, a W-shaped recession at the end of next year,” he said, a combination of rising oil prices, rising public debt and increases in real interest rates, rising concerns about inflation and the expiration of a number of tax cuts in the United States.

Federal tax revenue plunged $138 billion, or 34%, in April vs. a year ago — the biggest April drop since 1981, a study released Tuesday by the American Institute for Economic Research says.

When the economy slumps, so does tax revenue, and this recession has been no different, says Kerry Lynch, senior fellow at the AIER and author of the study. “It illustrates how severe the recession has been.”

For example, 6 million people lost jobs in the 12 months ended in April — and that means far fewer dollars from income taxes. Income tax revenue dropped 44% from a year ago.

“These are staggering numbers,” Lynch says.

Chart Source: American Institute for Economic Research

Once dominated by the steel and auto industries, Warren, located in Northeast Ohio near the state of Pennsylvania, is a microcosm of the fall of the manufacturing midwest.

When you think back to the quality of life enjoyed by many blue collar workers from the 1950s to the 1970s – and the quality of their American-made products – it opens the door of doubt on the efficacy of buying cheap crap from China.

Changes in the practices and ethics of the big businesses who employed America’s manufacturing workers had a lot to do with our demise here in the Midwest.  But, if we are to solve the problems going forward, we need to realize that the unions have had their part in the fall.

• Unemployment Rate in Trumbull County, home of Warren = 14.2%
• Poverty Rate = 14.6%

The Strategic Capital Bank of Champaign, Illinois and Citizens National Bank of Macomb, Illinois joined Florida’s BankUnited seized on Thursday.

Thirty six FDIC insured banks have failed this year, five in Illinois.

The deposits of Citizens National Bank are due to be acquired by Morton Community Bank as part of a “loss share” agreement with the FDIC.  Over the weekend depositors of Citizens National may access their funds through ATMs and check writing.  The FDIC estimates the cost to their Deposit Insurance Fund at $106 million.

The FDIC has entered into a purchase agreement with Midland States Bank for the assets of Strategic Capital Bank.  Strategic Capital’s only office will reopen on Tuesday, following the Memorial Day holiday, as a branch of Midland States.  Strategic Capital’s customers will be able to write checks and access their funds via ATM over the weekend.

Strategic Capital’s failure is expected to cost the Deposit Insurance Fund some $173 million.

Seventy percent of FDIC insured banks which have failed since 2000 have failed during the current recession.

As defined by the Dept. of Labor, a mass layoff is a situation in which 50 or more persons have filed initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits against an establishment during a consecutive 5-week period.

From Bloomberg:

More Americans than forecast filed claims for unemployment insurance last week, and the total number of workers receiving benefits rose to a record, signs the job market continues to weaken even as the economic slump eases.

Initial jobless claims fell by 12,000 to 631,000 in the week ended May 16, from a revised 643,000 the prior week that was higher than initially estimated, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The total number of people collecting benefits rose to 6.66 million, a record reading for a 16th straight week, and a sign companies are still not hiring.