Weekend Reading: Markets and More - Volume Two

* FDIC facing growing failures among small banks;

* Three reasons for not pursuing trading as a living;

* Does restricting calories improve health?

* Sobering view on the pension crisis;

* Credit contraction and other topics for important reading;

* But for leverage, Amaranth's strategy was a winner;

* Size matters: ETFs can change markets;

* Thanks to a sharp reader for this link to an article on cocaine addiction in the financial industry;

* Behind the economic collapse was fraud;

* Getting beyond quackery in the coverage of economic data and markets;

* Diversifying beyond the U.S. dollar;

* Thoughts on political power and the financial system.
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