It appears, of all places, in The New York Times, and was written by Joe Nocera.

That Nocera wrote it is no surprise, but The Times, with the exception of occasional but brilliant columns by Nocera and Floyd Norris, has come in a distant third behind the Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times in running value added pieces on the world wide financial crisis.

On the one hand, Nocera’s piece is a prime example of why American newspapers should not be allowed to go gently into that good night, as has been happening on a weekly basis lately. On the other hand, the rarity of masterful missives like the one in The Times today explains why yesterday’s newsstand icons are dropping like flies today.

Less than 5% of the monies being used to bail out AIG alone (forgetting for a moment about the rest of the tax dollars being used to bail out the other bad actors) would preserve our national journalistic treasures , whether one agrees with their positions or not. I’d prop up both the Times and the WSJ, which, as a business, is also taking it on the chin.

This relative pittance would more than pay for itself by providing access to vetted and verified information that would allow us, as citizens, to make the well informed decisions our elected officials can’t seem to make on their own.