Here are the top five most read stories on the Bloomberg in the last day with selected excerpts (and my comments, if any, in italics).

As of 14-Sep-2007 at 10:40:07 (Beijing time):

1. Goldman’s Global Alpha Fund Fell 22 Percent in August

“Global Alpha’s biggest loss in the month stemmed from the managers’ decision to sell Japanese yen and buy Australian dollars. The so-called carry trade unraveled when the Australian dollar fell 6 percent against the yen in August.”

I wonder how much leverage they’re using?

2. U.S. Stocks Rally; Countrywide, General Motors Shares Advance

“McDonald’s [hit its] highest closing price ever. The company boosted its annual dividend by 50 percent to $1.50 a share.”

Every morning this long-time MCD shareholder is thrilled to see hordes of Chinese office workers carrying their breakfast bags from McDonald’s.

3. Countrywide Shares Gain on $12 Billion Borrowing Deal

“Credit-default swaps for Countrywide fell 45 basis points today, the most in three weeks, to 280 basis points. They traded as low as 265 basis points. A fall signals improving perceptions of credit quality.”

4. Bernanke Spurns Greenspan’s Quick Fix, Seeking Data

“The MAQS (Macroeconomic and Quantitative Studies unit) are in charge of the quantitative model of the U.S. economy known as FRB/US or ‘Ferbus.’ By adjusting for such things as higher financing rates for American companies or a sharp decline in home prices, the team provides policy makers a glimpse of possible outcomes.”

They’re just dicking around with numbers in a system that’s so complex it defies quantification — this is probably worse than doing nothing.

5. Greenspan Says He Failed to Foresee Subprime Rout

“‘While I was aware a lot of these [lax lending] practices were going on, I had no notion of how significant they had become until very late,’ Greenspan said in the 60 Minutes interview. ‘I really didn’t get it until very late in 2005 and 2006,’ as he was about to leave office.”

That’s quite an admission from the so-called “Maestro.”