by Bill Scher | Apr 12, 2010 | Uncategorized
Each morning, Bill Scher and Terrance Heath serve up what progressives need to affect change on the kitchen-table issues families face: jobs, health care, green energy, financial reform, affordable education and retirement security. Wall St. Reform Tops Agenda As...
by Sam Pizzigati | Apr 11, 2010 | Blog
Windfall rewards give CEOs an incentive to put worker lives at risk. To see all workers safe, our most recent mining tragedy reminds us, maybe we need to end those windfalls. In a perverse sort of way, CEOs like Don Blankenship, the chief executive at Massey Energy,...
by Terrance Heath | Apr 9, 2010 | Blog
You wouldn't know it from the Heritage Foundation's 2010 Index of Economic Freedom, but the economic "luck of the Irish" ran out in 2008. Not only did the "Celtic Tiger" — as the Irish economy had been dubbed — lose its roar, but...
by Bill Scher | Apr 9, 2010 | Blog
Unless we successfully pressure CNN to change course, tomorrow it will air Pete Peterson's anti-Social Security, anti-Medicare anti-public investment deficit propaganda film "I.O.U.S.A" along with additional propaganda "commentary" from people who work for the...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 9, 2010 | Blog
There are rumors that China will let its currency start to rise a tiny bit. China's currency undervalued by up to 40%, which means goods made there have as much as a 40% advantage coming out of the gate, even before their other rulebreaking trade schemes kick in....
by Roger Hickey | Apr 9, 2010 | Blog
This weekend, CNN is giving four hours of free airtime to the leading propagandist fanning the flames of deficit hysteria, Pete Peterson, along with his lackeys. Bloggers and online activists are joining today to promote this action: Click here to demand CNN stop...
by Zach Carter | Apr 9, 2010 | Blog
2:00 FCIC Commissioners today have been much more aggressive than they've been in any hearing thus far. Watching Bill Thomas go after Fannie Mae exec Robert Levin on lobbying was really satisfying. But where was this tenacity yesterday, or in February? The way Thomas...
by Zach Carter | Apr 9, 2010 | Blog
The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission hearings continue to be a broad, boring failure, peppered with a few moments of significant insight. Throughout most of yesterday's hearing featuring the nation's top bank regulator, Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan,...
by Bill Scher | Apr 9, 2010 | Uncategorized
Each morning, Bill Scher and Terrance Heath serve up what progressives need to affect change on the kitchen-table issues families face: jobs, health care, green energy, financial reform, affordable education and retirement security. Citigroup Testimony Highlights Need...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 8, 2010 | Blog
by Zach Carter | Apr 8, 2010 | Blog
A grotesque deception from Dugan's opening statement: "The rapid increase in market share by these unregulated brokers and originators put pressure on regulated banks to lower their underwriting standards, which they did, though not to the same extent as was true for...
by Zach Carter | Apr 8, 2010 | Blog
The top U.S. bank regulator, John Dugan, hasn't even started testifying before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, but he's already spinning deceptions. Dugan worked as a bank lobbyist for years before being appointed to his current job by President George W....
by Steven Capozzola | Apr 8, 2010 | Blog
In 2005, China incrementally budged its currency after heavy pressure from the U.S. The move was expected to "trim the trade gap" between the two countries. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, as annual trade figures from the Census Bureau demonstrate: 2009 $226.8...
by Richard Eskow | Apr 8, 2010 | Blog
(we're liveblogging the Financial Reform hearings. Come view the live feed here) 9:20 am Here in the Rayburn building Robert Rubin, the onetime King of American financial policy, is lecturing the Financial Commission on what he believes are the causes of the financial...
by Bill Scher | Apr 8, 2010 | Uncategorized
WH Begins To Draw Lines On Wall Street Reform WH says it will fight bank lobby attempts to weaken Wall Street reform. W. Post: "[Dep. Sec. Neal] Wolin added that the administration would oppose efforts to provide exemptions for certain kinds of lenders. Regulatory...
by Robert Borosage | Apr 8, 2010 | Blog
Naked Capitalism posts a great blog from George Washington of the Washington Blog arraying the authorities who have now come out for breaking up the big banks. Everyone from small bankers to the Bank of International Settlements, the central bankers' centeral bank....
by Zach Carter | Apr 7, 2010 | Blog
Finally! Nearly two years after one of the worst financial crashes in history—and nearly three years after the crisis broke out—the SEC has charged a major bank with accounting fraud. On Wednesday, the SEC charged Regions Financial subsidiary Morgan Keegan with...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 7, 2010 | Blog
China has been very smart about looking out for its own interests. As a developing country China had natural advantages in selling goods made in China and in attracting manufacturing from other countries. A significant advantage was that their currency was valued very...
by Richard Eskow | Apr 7, 2010 | Blog
Alan Greenspan's testimony before the Angelides Commission certainly provided a target-rich environment, as they say in the Pentagon. Unfortunately the Commission missed all its targets, leaving the American public as undefended from financial depradation and ruin as...
by Alex Lawson | Apr 7, 2010 | Blog
by Zach Carter | Apr 7, 2010 | Blog
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is the top bank regulatory agency in the United States. It oversees the largest banks in the country, and completely failed to regulate them effectively in the years leading up to the Great Financial Crash of 2008....
by Bill Scher | Apr 7, 2010 | Uncategorized
Each morning, Bill Scher and Terrance Heath serve up what progressives need to affect change on the kitchen-table issues families face: jobs, health care, green energy, financial reform, affordable education and retirement security. China Currency Debate Not Done...
by Bill Scher | Apr 6, 2010 | Blog, Economy
When Congress returns from its recess on Monday, it won't have much time if it wants to create more jobs this year. Generally speaking, it takes about six months for increased public investment to make an impact on the economy. So if Congress passed major jobs...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 6, 2010 | Blog, Economy, Making it in America
The Obama administration appears to have backed off from pressuring China to revalue its currency, for now, likely in exchange for diplomatic concessions including helping to pressure Iran on nukes. Chinese currency revaluation is about jobs, because currently China...
by Zach Carter | Apr 6, 2010 | Blog
Robert Rubin and Chuck Prince ran the financial giant Citigroup in the years leading up to the Great Financial Crash of 2008. Together, their leadership proved so disastrous that the company was forced to beg for one of the largest bailouts in economic history. Under...
by Bill Scher | Apr 6, 2010 | Uncategorized
Each morning, Bill Scher and Terrance Heath serve up what progressives need to affect change on the kitchen-table issues families face: jobs, health care, green energy, financial reform, affordable education and retirement security. Former Masters Of The Universe Set...
by Alan Jenkins | Apr 6, 2010 | Blog
Mossville, Louisiana is an historic African American community in the southwest part of the state. Like too many similar communities around the country, it is surrounded by 14 industrial facilities that release millions of pounds of toxic chemicals annually. Mossville...
by Richard Eskow | Apr 6, 2010 | Blog
Alan Greenspan testifies before the Angelides Commission on Wednesday. Without wishing him any personal ill will, let's hope he gets a grilling. We come not to bury Greenspan, but to ... well, actually we do come to bury him. For the greater good of all, he and the...
by Bill Scher | Apr 5, 2010 | Blog
While there is a constant drumbeat in the media about how President Obama's big spending agenda is turning off the electorate, the media generally fails to report that the signature items of his reform agenda -- health care, clean energy and financial reform --...
by Alex Lawson | Apr 5, 2010 | Blog
- Veterans and their families make up almost 40 percent of the adult Social Security beneficiary population, which means two out of every five either are veterans or reside with family members who are veterans * Nearly one out of every four adult Social Security...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 5, 2010 | Blog
While publicly saying that China is manipulating its currency -- a very big deal -- Treasury Secretary Geithner announced over the weekend the administration is getting around the problem of an April 15 deadline for declaring that China is a currency manipulator by...
by Sara Robinson | Apr 5, 2010 | Blog
Sedition: Crime of creating a revolt, disturbance, or violence against lawful civil authority with the intent to cause its overthrow or destruction -- Brittanica Concise Dictionary Well, finally. It's high time somebody had the guts to say the S-word -- sedition --...
by Sam Pizzigati | Apr 5, 2010 | Blog
Don’t be fooled by all the poor-mouthing around the latest annual executive pay surveys. With Washington dithering on CEO pay reform, chief execs still have plenty of reason to celebrate. The media heavy hitters have once again begun their annual spring deluge of...
by Bill Scher | Apr 5, 2010 | Uncategorized
Each morning, Bill Scher and Terrance Heath serve up what progressives need to affect change on the kitchen-table issues families face: jobs, health care, green energy, financial reform, affordable education and retirement security. ...But Will Dems Play Hardball?...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 2, 2010 | Blog, Making it in America
What will it mean to American businesses if - I should say when - Chinese imports cost as much as they should cost? A currency and trade rebalancing is going to happen sooner or later because it has to. We can't run a trade deficit forever. If something is...
by Zach Carter | Apr 2, 2010 | Blog
I rarely accuse Paul Krugman of failing to think clearly, but he's missed the mark with his his argument against breaking up the U.S. too-big-to-fail financial oligarchy. Here's Krugman's core objection: Breaking up big banks wouldn't really solve our problems,...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 2, 2010 | Blog
News reports today that California Attorney General Jerry Brown did not find cause to prosecute workers for the community group ACORN who were caught in a sting orchestrated by a conservative blogger are bittersweet, given that Thursday was the day that
by Terrance Heath | Apr 2, 2010 | Blog
OK. This is truly getting tiresome. I know the media is making an attempt to be "fair and balanced" in writing about the threats of violence against Democratic lawmakers after the passage of health care reform. Plenty of people have already addressed this,...
by Robert Borosage | Apr 2, 2010 | Blog
With pressure building on the administration to tell the truth on China’s currency manipulation, and a report required by law on April 15, the Chinese government demonstrated just how sophisticated it is about playing US politics. Setting aside the harsh rhetoric of...
by Zach Carter | Apr 2, 2010 | Blog
The latest letter from J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon to his company’s shareholders is a deliberate effort to obfuscate his own bank’s rapaciousness and deflect attention from the enormous sums it has spent lobbying against financial reform. But despite the bank’s...
