News & Comment
Blogs and Opinion
Help Homeowners, Or This Crisis Gets Worse by Joseph Nocera, alternet.org | October 20, 2008
With almost 1 in 6 homeowners dealing with a troubled mortgage, we need a rescue plan fast or else face a huge social problem. read more »Redistribution: From Joe the Plumber to Robert Rubin by Dean Baker, tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com | October 20, 2008
Okay, we all know now that almost everything about Joe the Plumber is a lie. But he does raise a legitimate concern about "spreading the wealth around." The only problem is that in this country, when the government spreads the wealth around it usually means redistributing it upward. That is certainly the case with the hundreds of billions of dollars being used to bail out the banks. read more »When the Gloves Come Off by Jonathan Schell, The Nation | October 20, 2008
Yet there is a choice that overlaps and connects all the others and in a sense stands before them: deciding whether the United States, until now surrounded by a deep fog of illusions, will discipline itself to perceive and deal with the world as it actually is or, taking leave of its collective senses once and for all, will make the final plunge into a world of enticing fantasy. That is the most immediate question placed before the voters in the election that is upon us. read more »Americans Unwilling to Face Reality by John R. MacArthur, inthesetimes.com | October 20, 2008
America remains the land of infinite redemption where any crook can suddenly go straight. In part, it stems from our turbo-charged ethos of capitalism. America has always been the land of get-rich-quick and damn the consequences. We are a nation of fantasists, and things have to get really bad before a politician has the right to trade in hard truth. read more »We’re Heading Left Once Again by Jonathan Alter, Newsweek | October 20, 2008
The test for the next president is whether he can use the powers of government to act on behalf of Americans. That's a liberal idea. read more »Welcome to Hooverville by Rotwang, tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com | October 20, 2008
Broadly speaking, the logic of condemning a shift of tax burden from rich to not-rich as "class war," but the reverse as excellent economic policy, is another bit of Republican intellectual poo. read more »Ideology Takes a Breather, Maybe by Jared Bernstein , Huffington Post | October 20, 2008
What is ideology anyway, and what's so bad about it? The dictionary says that ideology is simply a set of beliefs that form the basis of a system. Nothing wrong with that. Where you run into trouble is when the ideology itself blocks the system from learning, from self-correcting. read more »The High Price of HOPE by Michelle Singletary, The Washington Post | October 20, 2008
For homeowners trying to renegotiate their loans under the government's new HOPE for Homeowners program, please read the paperwork carefully — because once again, you'll be stuck with a costly mortgage deal. read more »Treasury Blacks Out Key Parts of Bailout's Private Contracts by David Sirota, OurFuture.org | October 19, 2008
Remember how Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson promised full transparency in spending the $700 billion bailout money? And remember how bailout opponents predicted that the failure to mandate such transparency would allow all sorts of Halliburton-style shenanigans? From the looks of the first private contracts issued by the Treasury Department, it looks like the bailout opponents were correct. read more »Here Comes the Onslaught by David Sirota, OurFuture.org | October 19, 2008
This Newsweek cover piece is the starting gun of the elite pushback against what could be a new progressive era. read more »
The Latest
TARP expected to cost U.S. only $25 billion, CBO says, The Washington Post | November 30, 2010
The Troubled Assets Relief Program, which was widely reviled as a $700 billion bailout for Wall Street titans, is now expected to cost the federal government a mere $25 billion - the equivalent of less than six months of emergency jobless benefits. more »
Bernanke's `Cheap Money' Stimulus Spurs Corporate Investment Outside U.S., bloomberg.com | November 18, 2010
Among all the rhetoric about jobs, stimulus, Keynes, Friedman, the true nature of what grinds on in America's Corporate circles is revealed in this article.
If your in copper you have to go where the copper is. If someone is keen to give you cheap taxpayers' money to do it and is not too bothered about where it gets spent. - you would be a fool not to take it.
Bank Of America Tries To Frame Foreclosure-Gate As Simply A Case Of Misspelled Names, wonkroom.thinkprogress.org | October 26, 2010
Since the foreclosure fraud scandal — in which banks were caught allowing “robo-signers” to approve potentially fraudulent foreclosure forms — first hit the national airwaves, Wall Street banks have been trying to downplay the extent of the problem, claiming that it only has to do with paperwork mistakes and not a compete disregard for due process and property rights. more »
If GOP wins, Expect More Obstruction, The Washington Post | October 19, 2010
I'm cautious about the conventional wisdom that the Democratic Party is about to get flattened by a Republican steamroller. Pollsters are less certain than they'd like you to believe about who's a "likely voter" and who isn't. more »
Sorkin: Felix Rohatyn Looks Back, and Sighs, dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com | October 19, 2010
Felix G. Rohatyn, one of Wall Street’s last old wise-men, was sitting in his office at Lazard overlooking the Empire State Building on Monday morning. more »
The New Tax Man: Big Banks and Hedge Funds, huffpostfund.org | October 19, 2010
Nearly a dozen major banks and hedge funds, anticipating quick profits from homeowners who fall behind on property taxes, are quietly plowing hundreds of millions of dollars into businesses that collect the debts, tack on escalating fees and threaten to foreclose on the homes of those who fail to pay.
How Do We Judge the Homeowner?, Huffington Post | October 19, 2010
In the rush to foreclosure, the banks and even government officials have been taking the position that the borrower/homeowners are fully to blame for the situations they find themselves in and that the paperwork technicalities just need to be worked out in order for there to be a just outcome, which is to say, a foreclosure.
The Washington Post's Entry in the "How Many Big Things Can You Get Wrong in a Short Article?" Contest, cepr.net | October 19, 2010
The Washington Post appears to have outdone itself in a discussion of the politics surrounding the foreclosure crisis. For beginners, it told readers that:
"Reviving the economy requires repairing the housing market." more »
Bondholders Pick a Fight With Banks, The Wall Street Journal | October 19, 2010
As banks restart foreclosures they had suspended, bondholders are stepping up efforts to recoup losses on soured mortgage portfolios amid concern about sloppy mortgage servicing and underwriting practices. more »
Foreclosure Fortune Buys Bugatti, Yacht, Mansions for Attorney, bloomberg.com | October 19, 2010
For Americans, the foreclosure crisis has wiped out fortunes, bringing destitution and homelessness. For Florida attorney David J. Stern, it has brought mansions, a Bugatti sports car and a luxury yacht. Florida has the third-highest residential foreclosure rate in the U.S., and Stern, 50, has made a fortune off the bust. more »
