In his new book, "The Courage to Act," Ben Bernanke makes a strong case that the U.S. Federal Reserve, under his leadership, acted as necessary in 2008 to pull the country back from the brink of another Great Depression. Unfortunately, he and the Fed also appear to have missed some important lessons from that terrible episode.QuickTake ...

Five years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers triggered the largest global financial crisis since the Great Depression, outsize banking sectors have left economies shattered in Ireland, Iceland, and Cyprus. Banks in Italy, Spain, and elsewhere are not lending enough. China’s credit binge is turning into a bust. In short, the world’s ...