Credit crunch can be useful

Stock markets have tumbled, lending has been frozen and central banks have injected emergency funds ...

Stock markets have tumbled, lending has been frozen and central banks have injected emergency funds into the banking system. It has been impossible to miss the atmosphere of panic in financial markets in recent days. But hold on. So long as it doesn't turn into a rout, it's healthy to blow the froth off the top of a four-year bull market. Once you get rid of the excess, you can see the substance underneath. Here are five useful things that might come out of the credit crunch of August 2007. One, say hello to the Trichet Put. Now that Alan Greenspan is no longer Federal Reserve chairman, ...