Yahoo! Finance recently listed 10 things to avoid buying for this year. The crew at BuzzMashr must agree with #1…DVDs. I mean, why the devil would you buy a DVD when you get a Netflix membership for less than one disc? (Barring extremely rare titles not yet available on Netflix’s database).

10 Things Not to Buy in 2010 (Yahoo! Finance)

Powerful Wall Street executives Stephen Schwarzman and Bruce Wasserstein discussed the economy crisis in light of the upcoming Presidential Election at a Forbes’ sponsored breakfast and discussion. Steve Schwarzman is a co-Founder of the Blackstone Group and a supporter of the Republican Party. Bruce Wasserstein is the CEO of Lazard Asset Management a supporter of the Democratic Party. Both men are considered financial experts with dozens of years experience in the markets and both had different views about what was most to blame for the current state of the economy.

Both Bruce Wasserstein and Stephen Schwarzman agreed that the problem has to do with regulation, and although the spin on their positions holds them in contention, the core of their arguments are essentially the same:

Steve Schwarzman argues that the government (a Democratic Congress) became over-involved in the market when they passed laws to encourage subprime mortgage loans so that more people could afford houses.

Bruce Wasserstein argues that the government (a Republican Executive Branch) failed to regulate financial institutions and that lax accounting rules are to blame for companies over shooting safe lending practices.

A powerful crowd turned out for Fortune’s breakfast conversation with Stephen Schwarzman and Bruce Wasserstein Thursday morning at Per Se in New York. Members of the business and media elite — including Vivi Nevo, Arthur Sulzberger, Alan Patricof, John Huey, Norm Pearlstine, Tina Brown, Jeff Toobin, and Jared Kushner — joined Fortune Managing Editor Andy Serwer to hear Schwarzman and Wasserstein discuss the Wall Street crisis and how the next president can lead the US out of the current economic crisis.

Schwarzman, the founder and CEO of Blackstone and a prominent Republican donor, argued that the crisis was caused by too much regulation in the banking and brokerage industries. Wasserstein, the CEO of Lazard and a prominent Democratic donor, disagreed, arguing that there was “misregulation,” and that lax accounting rules allowed companies to inflate the value of their assets.

“Accounting has become a new exercise in creative fiction,” Wasserstein said.

Read the rest of Stephen Schwarzman And Bruce Wasserstein Breakfast Battle.

Resources for Steve Schwarzman and Bruce Wasserstein

Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman explains the origins of the troubled economy

Wall Street Journal Blog reports that on financial matters, Steve Schwazman has a clue.

Charlie Rose interviews Stephen Schwarzman. Charlie Rose interviews Bruce Wasserstein.

Additional resources for Stephen Schwarzman and the Blackstone Group.

International Herald Tribune reports that Bruce Wasserstein likes challenges in the finance game.

Bruce Wasserstein interviewed by the Harvard Business Review on finance and deal making.

More resources for Lazard CEO Bruce Wasserstein.

Bruce Wasserstein’s book the Big Deal is reviewed by the New Yorker.

With Wall Street panicky with fear over the financial market and banks tightening credit, businesses all over America are suffering. When businesses can’t get loans, operations grind to a standstill. Production stops. Manufactures lose money. And then, if the situation doesn’t get oiled, people start losing their jobs–in every industry.

There is no way to avoid a recession following the collapse of so many financial giants this summer, but in order to avoid a long and bitter Depression with a capital D, the economic machine needs to be greased. The grease for the economy is money–flowing money.

But of course money comes at a price (after all, it is money!) If the American tax payer doesn’t foot the bill, then the government has to borrow (thereby ballooning an already monstrous deficit). These are the details being debated hotly in Congress. Part of the problem, of course, is that many constituents (and probably elected Congress officials) don’t fully understand the problem much less how to fix it. And there IS no perfect solution. Keeping that in mind, the best solution is the one that can squeak through the barriers of Congressional out-holding and oil up the gears of the economic engine.

Hopefully, today’s “solution” won’t be something America’s future generations will curse us for. In the meantime, President Bush is calling for Congress to do something–and do it fast!

Furious lobbying for much-maligned bailout bill

By CHARLES BABINGTON and JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON – President Bush and congressional leaders conducted fierce eleventh-hour lobbying Thursday for enough House votes to push the $700 billion financial industry bailout bill to the finish line.

Bush said “a lot of people are watching” and he kept up his pleas from the White House as Democratic and Republican party leaders worked over wayward colleagues wherever they could find them. Bush argued that the measure represents the “best chance” to calm unnerved financial markets and ease a widening credit crunch.

Rep. Steny Hoyer, the second-ranking House Democrat, said that his party won’t put the bill up for the vote planned for Friday unless lawmakers are sure it will pass.

Speaking to reporters during a meeting with business executives, Bush said the increasingly tight credit markets are in some instances threatening the existence of small businesses. He said Congress “must listen” to those arguing for passage of the bill, derided by many on Capitol Hill and within the general public as a handout to a risk-taking Wall Street.

The much-maligned measure was returned to the House after the Senate resuscitated it with tax cuts and other sweeteners in a 74-25 vote late Wednesday. The bill had been defeated in House narrowly on Monday.

Read the rest of Furious lobbying for much-maligned bailout bill on Yahoo News.

Private Equity companies (think KKR, Blackstone Group, Thomas H Lee, Cerebus, etc) are stepping up to purchase United States highways, airports, public utilities, and other infrastructure properties. The Deal Journal interviews Mayer Brown partner John Schmidt to discover how private equity ownership of U.S. roads might be good news for construction projects and taxpayers.

Posted by Heidi N. Moore

Government is good for some things: collecting taxes, national security, entertaining election-year posturing and grandstanding.

But one thing government is not good at is managing public infrastructure: toll roads, airports, public utilities. That’s why private equity firms are raising billions of dollars to take over those assets. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts made a typically bold strike by hiring Lazard investment banker George Bilicic, whose reputation as a star investment banker will help KKR as it raises a $10 billion fund. Today, Pennsylvania is accepting final bids from private equity firms bidding to privatize the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Governor Ed Rendell has said he will announce the winner on Monday.

To make sense of why private equity guys in shiny suits are suddenly so eager to fill our nation’s potholes, Deal Journal talked to Mayer Brown partner John Schmidt, who is representing Pennsylvania in its plan to privatize the roadway.

Read the interview with Deal Journal and Mayer Brown partner John Schmidt about Private Equity Funding US Infrastructures.

Learn about KKR on Hoovers.

Heller Ehrman Talking Merger with Mayer Brown.

Bio for Lazard leader Bruce Wasserstein.

Private equity companies KKR and the Blackstone Group look to Lehman for investment opportunity

Read recent news about top private equity companies Blackstone Group, THL, KKR, Brentwood, General Atlantic, and the Carlyle Group.

Private Equity giant the Blackstone Group, founded by Steve Schwarzman, goes public.

Lazard CEO Bruce Wasserstein interviewedabout Deal Making by the HBR.

View Mayer Brown press releases.

View press releases for Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.