The pheremonic scent of compromise is inducing euphoria in the nation's capitol once again. Not that there's anything wrong with compromise, if it results in policies that work. But we've just pulled ourselves back from the brink of financial meltdown, and tens of millions of households are experiencing their own economic catastrophes. This is no time to value process over outcome. The danger is that the desire to appear bipartisan may prevent us from creating a system that protects us from either collective or individual economic disaster. more »
Steven Pearlstein of the Washington Post waxed lyrical today about the compromise deal on financial regulations proposed Sens. Dodd and Corker, calling it a "creative bipartisan proposal." It's certainly "bipartisan," and it may even be "creative." What it isn't is effective. It's not just a compromise - unfortunately, it's also compromised. more »
motherjones.com — The last thing Democrats want is for Congress' long-promised Wall Street crackdown to become a rerun of health care reform—the House passes a bill, only to see grueling negotiations grind to a halt in the Senate. But as Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., prepares to release his proposal for financial reform this week, House lawmakers who have worked on the issue are worried that the talks will once again paralyze the Senate, producing only flimsy restrictions and no agency to protect consumers.
Before we get to the specifics, here's what you need to know about the credit card companies: They're out to shaft you. They'll shaft you every chance they get. more »
Mattel makes a toy called the "Magic 8-Ball." It looks like a pool ball with a little window in it. You ask it a question, then shake it and an answer pops up in the glass. They were a craze in the corporate world a few years back, and you still see lots of them holding down papers on desks across America. more »
The banking industry renewed its extortion threat against Congress today: If you create an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency that is not beholden to the banking industry, we'll make American consumers pay. more »
Now that thousands of demonstrators confronted bankers at the "showdown in Chicago" during the American Bankers Association convention there this week, activist energy is now urgently shifting to Washington and to communities across the country.
I'm going to Chicago next week for the American Bankers Association meeting. Oddly, I haven't been invited to the Roaring '20's dance party I hear they're having.
Why wouldn't they celebrate the era of wild money and hot times (which slid into the Great Depression)? After all, the bankers are doing well these days. more »
Unions are popularly known as "the folks who brought you the weekend." In contrast, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has the distinction of trying to take away the weekend--along with overtime pay, the minimum wage, Buy America rules, workers' freedom to form unions, child labor standards....The list is long and ugly. more »
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