The financial crisis, employment market and social media explosion have converged, providing a new level of clarity into what is happening in the world around us. Where was ground zero for this financial catastrophe? Well, according to the LinkedIn blog, five companies have shown the most action: Barclays (BCS), Credit Suisse (CS), Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM). Interestingly, Goldman Sachs (GS), among the biggest winners now that we're pulling out from the recession, didn't see as much play.

The art market spent a year and a half circling the drain. Signs of life at the end of 2009, however, have become a reality, with recent auctions at Sotheby's (BID) and Christie's (CRUPF) exceeding expectations and showing triple-digit growth from comparable auctions last year.

Overall, art prices last year were off around 50%, with the contemporary art sector suffering even more severe declines of up to 70%. With prices this low and a recovery taking shape, it's time for investors to get in, and it looks like we'll see an art rally this year.

Retailers appear to have been rescued at the last minute, according to data from the International Council of Shopping Centers. Shoppers looking for deals the week before Christmas -- and making up for the day lost to stormy weather on the East Coast -- spent aggressively, sparing the retail sector a dismal 2008-like performance.

The healthy conclusion to the holiday season led to a positive change from November and made December one of only three months (including September and October) in which retail sales increased year-over-year.

More than 20 million people received unemployment benefits last year, a new record. While they didn't all do it at the same time, the activity was enough to run the unemployment rate up to 10%, leaving everyone with the belief hope that 2010 just has to be better.

The severity that has characterized the job market since the woes of American International Group (AIG) and Lehman Brothers made headlines in September 2008 eased up a bit as 2009 marched toward its conclusion. The layoffs slowed down a bit, but a dearth of hiring means that we aren't seeing a pickup for the 5.8 million who've been out of work for more than six months ... let alone everyone else.

The private equity market was hit hard by the financial crisis last year, but it's already on the road to recovery, according to a new report by Preqin (pdf).

From the first quarter to the second, this year, increasing returns and valuations have given investors a reason to hope, even though the industry's average return is down 24.1% for the 12-month period ending June 30, 2009. The negative return still outpaced the S&P 500, MSCI Europe and MSCI Emerging Markets indexes, the alternative investment research firm says, which returned -26.2%, -34.1% and -27.8%, respectively -- and the 12-month average improved from -30% for the year-long period ending March 31, 2009.

Proving that it's never too late to try to get into heaven, 63-year-old former Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld is reportedly trying to raise funds to lend money to small businesses.

The New York Post reports that "Sources tell The Post that the usually gruff Fuld is trying to raise funds from private equity and other investors that would provide aid to small businesses seen as 'growth companies.' The aid would be provided by using his Rolodex of market contacts to help firms raise capital or by providing financing, people familiar with the matter said."

Sotheby's (NYSE: BID) had a great night this week, tripling the performance of competitor Christie's (OTC: CRUPF). But, it didn't come soon enough to help the company's third quarter results.

The auction house suffered from the art market slump that was exacerbated by the global financial crisis, posting a net loss of $57.8 million (89 cents a share). This is worse than the $47 million loss (73 cents a share) it delivered a year earlier. Three analysts that Bloomberg surveyed expected a loss of 29 cents a share. Revenue was off 41% to $44.9 million for the quarter.

The housing bubble and subsequent "Great Recession" have tarnished the stars of a good many of the world's financial wizards, such as the former heads at Lehman Bros. and Merrill Lynch. But one respected image remains -- perhaps unsurprisingly -- on top: Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A).

That's according to a recent quarterly poll of investors, traders, and analysts who subscribe to Bloomberg terminals, those somewhat cryptic news and data computers that are ubiquitous on Wall Street. Buffett, who received favorable nods from 25% of those participating in the poll, walked away with a plurality of the vote, Bloomberg News reported.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank has a new proposal to regulate bank transactions. Some of it is OK and some of it perpetuates the abuses that brought Lehman and other financial institutions to their knees.

First the OK part. Frank's proposal would require over-the-counter derivatives to be traded on listed exchanges and sold on exchanges or processed through a regulation platform. This is not good enough. We need transparency for each and every trade done by each and every financial institution. That means that all trades must be done on a listed exchange and cleared through a clearinghouse. All of this data can be put on computers and monitored daily. Then if some trader goes beyond established guidelines, he will be shut down immediately.

The New York Post reports that former Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld "was so perturbed over the contents of a book on the demise of his beloved bank that he angrily phoned up a pair of traders he believed helped secretly contribute to the account of Lehman's stunning collapse last September."

The book in question is Lawrence McDonald's A Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers, a former executives view of what went wrong at Lehman. Fuld called up former traders Michael Gelband and Alex Kirk and accused them of helping McDonald with background for the book.