"Busted" author turns to blogging

The future of journalism? After taking a Times buyout, reporter Edmund Andrews finds a new outlet

Published January 4, 2010 11:17PM (EST)

Capital Gains and Games, a high-powered group blog that already includes, among others, the invaluable budget analysis of Stan Collender and the Republican apostate musings of Bruce Bartlett, has picked up another name-brand contributor -- former New York Times reporter Edmund Andrews.

One of 74 Times staffers to take a buyout from the paper last month, Andrews is a veteran business and economy reporter who became famous last May after the publication of his book "Busted" -- which chronicled his own controversial misadventures in the world of exotic mortgages and reckless financial planning.

Does this mean, in the end, everyone's going to be a blogger? I don't understand the business model, but I like the gist of Andrews' first post, "Hopes of a Chastened Capitalist."

But the wanton recklessness on Wall Street that nearly wrecked the economy has exposed the limits of laissez faire thinking. It's clear that banks and Wall Street firms played central roles in the catastrophe. There really were a lot of crooks out there. The free market did not self-correct; it essentially self-destructed. Rational self-interest did not save the day. What saved the day, if indeed it's been saved, was massive government intervention.

Welcome to the blogosophere, Mr. Andrews!


By Andrew Leonard

Andrew Leonard is a staff writer at Salon. On Twitter, @koxinga21.

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