Was this the beginning of the next Great Depression or just a brief period of financial retrenchment?

FORBES: Can We Prevent Another Lehman?

The lower stock bonus for Mr. Blankfein accentuates a year of financial-industry retrenchment, and comes as public sentiment against bankers and big pay packages has risen.

WSJ: Goldman Cuts Blankfein's Bonus

Do our modern day econometric models have the ability to understand the impacts of fiscal retrenchment after a financial crisis having been calibrated in a period of excessive leverage?

FORBES: All Signs Point To Gold

The retrenchment needed to deal with these financial difficulties hurt not just patient care but also Labour's reputation.

ECONOMIST: Health-care politics

Some credit retrenchment is of course expected in a recession, particularly in one triggered by a financial bubble, but after three years this measure shows little sign of trending upward again.

FORBES: Global Economic Update: A Weak Recovery

However, other factors, including a broader retrenchment in the willingness of investors to bear risk, difficulties in valuing complex or illiquid financial products, uncertainties about the exposures of major financial institutions to credit losses, and concerns about the weaker outlook for the economy, have also roiled the financial markets in recent months.

NPR: Economic Swoon to Continue, Bernanke Says