Blogs: Curbing Wall Street

Yesterday the Justice Department announced that once again it's not going to pursue evidence of Wall Street crimes which has been sent its way. It has already failed to act on information sent to it by sources whose investigators are apparently more dogged than its own, including several other government agencies and the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. more »

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Whether or nor history will record Mitt Romney's misadventures in Britain and Israel last week as the Republicans' equivalent of Michael Dukakkis in a tank, remains to be seen. But whatever missteps Romney made abroad, he did not misspeak. Nor did anyone who spoke for the Romney Campaign.

That does not mean, of course, that I agree with what Romney said or what was reportedly said his campaign adviser. I don't Apparently neither does Romney, who tried to rewrite his remarks about the "inferior" culture of the Palestinians even as right-wingers moved to embrace them. Meanwhile moderate Republicans tried, and tried, and tried to explain what Mitt Romney meant to say. Romney did not misspeak. He meant what he said, and he meant to say it. The proof is in the policies he'd like to inflict upon a whole lot of folks back home.

Mitt Romney's policies show that he's an extremist for the privileged. His words suggest the basis of his extremism, and reveal Mitt Romney as a "one-percent supremacist."

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We tend to over-emphasize personalities in our politics especially in Presidential campaigns. It matters who's President, of course, but our national elections are the product of much larger economic and social forces. more »

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We tend to over-emphasize personalities in our politics especially in Presidential campaigns. It matters who's President, of course, but our national elections are the product of much larger economic and social forces. more »

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A well funded network of right-wing extremists wants to make it socially and politically impossible to express the ideals that made this country great. One of those extremists appeared on their billionaire-funded network this week to attack Elizabeth Warren, and anyone else who isn't on the far right, as a Communist. more »

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Is a little-known bureaucrat named Edward DeMarco an unreasonable, ideological obstructionist who's blocking badly-needed homeowner relief? The White House says he is. So does Paul Krugman. Some of us having been harping on the subject for months. more »

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The defense industry and its Republican allies in Congress are up in arms - metaphorically speaking,of course - over the possibility that an agreement which the GOP signed might actually take effect as agreed.

They hate when then happens. So they're cooking something up that could create big problems for your wallet ... not to mention your digestive tract. more »

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The press has had a field day highlighting British reactions to Romney’s mild criticism of the Olympic preparations. Tory P.M David Cameron slaps him down. London Mayor Boris Johnson scorns him before a crowd of 60,000. Tabloid press goes off. Much tut-tutting on how this undermines his foreign policy credentials, etc.

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It's truly unbelievable: At no time in modern memory has the privileged class been richer, the middle class more endangered, or the number of people in poverty been so high. more »

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It was a dream come true for the austerity crowd when Great Britain's conservative/"centrist" coalition government took power in 2010. And for commentators like Slate's Anne Appelbaum it was that kind of dream. more »

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