In a speech at Whitney Tilson's Value Investing Conference on Monday, hedge-fund icon David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital, perhaps best known for his massive bet against Lehman Bros., offered some wisdom on the economic outlook and how investors can protect themselves.

Einhorn pulled no punches. "Ben Bernanke and Tim Geithner have become the quintessential short-term decision makers," he said. "They explicitly do whatever it takes to solve one problem at a time and deal with the unintended consequences later. It is too soon for history to evaluate their work, because there hasn't been time for the unintended consequences of the 'do whatever it takes' decision-making to materialize."

Well, that didn't take long: The King of Pop has been gone for less than four months, and an unreleased Michael Jackson track is already available online.

This Is It features backing vocals from Jackson's brothers. According to Bloomberg, "The single was planned as the theme of Jackson's sold-out "This Is It" concerts that would have started this July in London's O2 Arena."

Blogger Jeff Matthews has an intriguing idea for a new SEC chairman to replace the long line of ineffective empty suits who have done so little to promote integrity in the financial markets: Jim Chanos.

Who is Jim Chanos? One of the greatest short sellers of all time. Chanos was one of the first investors to call out Enron, and he's developed a reputation for sniffing out shenanigans that regulators have missed. Matthews writes, "in the world of 'protecting investors', we can't think of anyone more competent to spot a problem than one of the best short sellers who ever practiced the craft. "

There has been a significant populist outcry over the predatory overdraft fees charged by many of America's leading banks, and with good reason. In response, several banks have radically altered their overdraft policies, but that may not be enough to appease regulators. "We do need some regulatory standards in this area," said FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair said in an interview with USA Today. "We need the Fed to finalize rulemaking in this area."

Here's the problem with eliminating overdraft fees: It will encourage banks to turn away many low-income, low-asset customers, forcing them into the shadowy market of check cashing services, Western Union money orders, and payday lenders.

California start-up Fisker Automotive has received a $529 million loan from the U.S. to try to build a hybrid sports car in Finland.

$529 million of your money. To build a sports car. In Finland.

News of the Fisker loan comes amid questions about the controversial $465 million taxpayer loan to Tesla at a time when the Silicon Valley-based electric car start-up has already raised over $200 million in private venture capital from prestigious VC's like Draper Fisher Jurvetson, cash-rich companies like Google (GOOG), and the likes of JP Morgan Chase (JPM).

With banks and carmakers reaping enormous benefits from taxpayer-funded bailouts, you have to wonder: Who will get the next scoop of bailout cash? President Obama told the editors of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Toledo Blade in an interview that he's open to proposals that would provide newspapers with generous tax cuts if they transition to nonprofit status.

"Journalistic integrity, you know, fact-based reporting, serious investigative reporting, how to retain those ethics in all these different new media and how to make sure that it's paid for, is really a challenge," Obama said. "But it's something that I think is absolutely critical to the health of our democracy.

Warren Buffett is known as one of the most quotable people in the the world of business. His witty asides are a big part of what has made his annual letters to shareholders legendary.

But it's unusual for him to rip into an individual. That's exactly what he did on Tuesday, and he couldn't have picked a better target: Bank of America's (BAC) CEO Ken Lewis.

Speaking at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit in San Diego, Buffet referred to Lewis as the "ironic hero" of last September's financial meltdown, whose foolish decision to buy Merrill Lynch at an inflated price saved the global economy -- while also torpedoing his shareholders.

File this in the horror section: struggling movie rental giant Blockbuster (BBI) said Tuesday it will close up to 960 stores by the end of 2010. If Blockbuster does hit that target, it will represent a 22 percent decline in the company's store count. Competitors Netflix (NFLX) and RedBox have flourished in recent months, but Blockbuster's massive fleet of cash-burning stores and its substantial debt load have made it impossible for the company to keep up.

Blockbuster had been pitching consumers -- and Wall Street -- on the idea that it could offer a unique value proposition by combining online and mail order DVD viewing with the convenience of renting movies in-store too. The problem? That benefit just isn't attractive enough to consumers to justify the cost of operating a chain of stores that are growing less relevant everyday. The decision to quicken the pace of store closings is an admission that this strategy isn't working.

Alleged Ponzi schemer Robert Allen Stanford has been sued for $258,480 in gambling debt by MGM Mirage (MGM)'s Bellagio hotel, a leading Las Vegas casino. The debts were incurred while Stanford was on vacation with his fiancee in January.

What does Stanford defense attorney Dick DeGuerin have to say about this? You're probably expecting a no comment -- or possibly a denial. Or maybe he'll refer the matter to someone else. Right?

Nope. In an e-mail to The New York Post, DeGuerin was about as any candid as you will ever see any lawyer get: "The Bellagio should sue the receiver. It's a valid debt and should be paid along with the others, but good luck in getting the receiver to do it. Maybe the Bellagio should revert to the time-honored method of Vegas debt collection and send someone to make the receiver an offer he can't refuse, or just break his legs."

Well then. I somehow doubt that -- with the losses from the alleged Ponzi scheme estimated to be running into the billions -- the receiver or any court or judge in the land will give a gambling debt priority over the honest people who lost money investing in what they thought were perfectly safe CDs.

Either way: Dick DeGuerin is now my favorite lawyer.

Bernie Madoff told H. David Kotz, inspector general of the Securities and Exchange Commission, he was "astonished" that the SEC didn't put an end to his Ponzi scheme in 2006, after he gave the agency his account number at the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation as part of an investigation.

"This was perhaps the most egregious failure in the enforcement investigation of Madoff," Kotz's report said. "They never verified Madoff's purported trading with any independent third parties." Had the SEC cross-referenced Madoff's account statements with DTCC's trading records, they would have "immediately realized that Madoff was not trading in anywhere near the volume that he was showing on the customer statements."