With new taxpayer-funded bailouts at Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) making headlines this week, it's a good time to stop and ask ourselves: Do the people in Washington have any idea what they're doing?

The New York Times' Joe Nocera poses an interesting contradiction: "Think about it: Citigroup is slimming down. Bank of America is bulking up. The government is essentially backing both approaches. It makes no sense. "

It sure doesn't. Nocera suggests that setting up a "bad bank" to move the worst assets of banks off their books might be the best way to stop the vicious cycle of writedowns and capital infusions. Maybe he's onto something with that but his first point is the best one.

When we have an economic policy that provides financing for one bank to make acquisitions and another bank to split itself up, can we really trust the leadership?

The New York Times reports that Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs gave reporter Joe Nocera an off the record account of his health problems. As I posted, he appeared at developers conferences looking thin and tired and raised questions in the minds of those who saw him. Apple responded by saying that Jobs' health is a "private matter."

Nocera cited reporting from his colleague John Markoff that suggested that Jobs "had had a surgical procedure earlier this year, the details of which remain unclear." Nocera heard that Jobs "has had ongoing digestive difficulties, which have contributed to his weight loss -- possibly a side effect of the surgery. And in the weeks leading up to the conference, he came down with an infection, which had a lot to do with why he looked so gaunt. It wasn't cancer, thank goodness. But was more than a 'common bug.'"

Apple knew that Nocera was working on this article and Steve Jobs called Nocera and told him some details of his condition. Unfortunately, for Apple shareholders, he declined to allow Nocera to write about this on the record. Nocera's description of the off the record conversation suggests to me that Jobs has a significant health problem consistent with what Markoff reported -- but Nocera does not think it's the pancreatic cancer Jobs had in 2003.

The advance praise on the back of Good Guys & Bad Guys: Behind the Scenes with the Saints and Scoundrels of American Business (and Everything in Between) includes this line from Jim Cramer: "Joe Nocera's the best business writer alive."

Since this book is a collection of Nocera's best work spanning the past 25 years, this is definitely one you'll want to pick up. It includes lengthy profiles of T. Boone Pickens and Steve Jobs (both more than 20 years old), the latter of which should be read by anyone who is considering an investment in Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL).

Nocera has a unique ability to put together telling profiles of some of America's most important and controversial -- like Henry Blodget and Patrick Byrne -- business minds that provide real insight without disintegrating into pseudo-psychoanalytical babble.

It would be nice to see Nocera put together a full-length book of original material but this is a good start -- if you like his New York Times columns, this is worth picking up.

If you want to get Patrick Byrne's take on naked short selling and the alleged conspiracy (involving class-action lawyers, hedge funds, and journalists) against his company, Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK), then Deep Capture, the Movie is a good place to get it.

In the 45th slide of the presentation, to provide evidence of the journalistic conspiracy, Mr. Byrne plays a clip of former New York Post business editor Dan Colarusso speaking to Herb Greenberg, Joe Nocera, and Dave Kansas: "When I think of Patrick Byrne ... We have barrels of ink and stacks of money and all the resources in the world at our disposal, legal and, indeed our media, to crush him."

Is this indicative of a conspiracy? Speaking on Mad Money with Jim Cramer about Mr. Byrne, Herb Greenberg said that "the real conspiracy, if there's a conspiracy, is a conspiracy by these people to silence the critics."

Exactly. And here's a tip for Mr. Byrne: Journalists tend to be big believers in free speech. When you attack their ethics, attempt to intimidate them into silence, and an employee of your company sets up a website to smear them -- that angers journalists, and they jump to each others' defense.

Was there a conspiracy of journalists against Patrick Byrne? I seriously doubt it. But Byrne's efforts to silence his critics have made him an enemy of journalists and lovers of the First Amendment everywhere. Maybe that's the conspiracy.