Is it awful or wonderful that Slate launched its business website The Big Money the same day three large Wall Street institutions were in various stages of freefall? Characteristically, Slate takes the contrarian view: It's wonderful! Tons of news to cover! They'll "tap into people's... anxiety about the economy!" The joys of financial fearmongering aside, the implosion of financial services does tend to call into question how many more ads the site can sell to the likes of American Express. Also, two words: Portfolio magazine. Editor James Ledbetter (recently of CNNMoney.com) still isn't daunted:

Among the other competitors cited by Mr. Ledbetter were CNNMoney.com, Forbes and Fortune. Mr. Ledbetter draws distinctions between sites like TheStreet.com, which pitch stock tips, and what he intends The Big Money to be.

Rather than promising to "read us and we'll make you rich," Mr. Ledbetter is offering to "read us and we'll make you smart."

So basically, the New Yorker finance page writ large.

There is one pretty cool idea: The site has a Twitter account devoted to heckling the Wall Street Journal. Sadly, the editorial page appears not to be included in this.

[Times]