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The Road to Perdition
My previous post had me asking "How did we get here?" (Actually, I cleaned up my language for this post.) How did we end up on what could be an economic "road to perdition." per·di·tion – noun 1. a state of final spiritual ruin; loss of the soul;...
Condemned to Repeat It: When Our National Memory Fails
Those who don't remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Santayana's warning is now such a persistent cliche only because it's so painfully true. Where have we seen this kind of meltdown before? Oh, yeah, right—we've got those family snapshots of our grandparents...
The Big Conservative Blame-Shift
Rick flagged one of the conservative attempts to shift blame for the financial crisis away from their market deregulation and pin it on "government," namely the Community Reinvestment Act. Last night, President Bush played the blame-shift game again, trying to claim...
Get Ready For The Streamroller
Get ready for the steamroller on the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street. Tuesday was the time for throat clearing. It started to get out of hand. Opposition to the plan grew through Wednesday morning. Then... 1. Warren Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha and the biggest...
Opportunity "Jacked"
I admit it, the past week has left me speechless. As I sat and read the news about how the last of the investment banks shuffled off into extinction (kinda; they're just becoming regular old banks now), it did feel like I was sitting in front of my television again...
The Bailout Questions To Ask
In a memo posted at the Poynter Institute journalism website, David Cay Johnston, a former economics reporter at The New York Times, warned journalists about accepting at face value Bush administration claims that a crisis on Wall Street demands the rapid, drastic...
Coastal Drilling Ban Is Dead: A Post-Mortem
Congressional leaders have backed down to conservatives and will let the current federal ban on most coastal drilling to completely expire. What does this mean for our energy policy? What does this say about the congressional leadership and the progressive movement?...
Gut Check Time: Will Congress Stand Up To Wall Street?
It's gut check time. The attempt by Treasury Secretary Paulson to put a gun to the head of Congress and terrify them into forking over a $700 billion blank check to the Bush administration in 48 hours has failed. Now what? Most Americans would just as soon the Masters...
Paulson Feeling The Pressure, Time To Demand "Common Sense"
As I write this, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is testifying before the Senate Banking Committee. In his opening statement, he appeared to depart from prepared remarks to respond to statements from Senators calling for independent monitoring of Paulson's actions in...
Building Our Way Out
The economy is sinking. Wages are flat, costs are rising and bridges are collapsing. Wall Street doesn’t know which way is up. The bail out is coming now and the stimulus checks came in the spring. But three quarters of Americans (still) think the country is on the...
