by Charley James
“Demonizing the bankers as if they and they alone created the financial meltdown is both inaccurate and short-sighted,” Citigroup chairman Richard Parsons told reporters recently. “Everybody participated in pumping up this balloon and now that the balloon has deflated, everybody has some part in the blame.”
Oh no we don’t.
Talk about dissembling. The truth [...]

 
by Robert Reich
The outcome of the “stress tests” will be that the banks needing extra capital will get it from the Treasury. But where will the money come from, now that the TARP fund is almost exhausted and Congress is dead set against providing more bank bailout money? The Treasury will simply swap debt for [...]

 
by Denis Campbell
Rachel Maddow’s example on MSNBC was a simple enough explanation of how $21 billion dollars in annual tax revenue disappears from US coffers through legal loopholes that create tax shell corporations. 
Mr. Bill Hypothetical, based in Texas, earns $50,000 annually and pays a 25% tax rate. KBR’s profits, also based in Texas (a military [...]

 
Yesterday at a few minutes before 6:00 pm, Hugh McColl’s former nationwide bank dream empire suffered yet another humbling blow. Bank of America shareholders stripped Kenneth D. Lewis of his Chairman’s title. What many consider a prelude to being shown the door, they appointed former Morehouse College President Walter E. Massey as Chairman. While Lewis [...]

by Ben Protess, ProPublica - 
The list of banks joining the Obama administration’s foreclosure relief program is growing—and so is the cost.
So far, the Treasury Department has committed more than $13 billion to 11 loan servicers participating in Making Home Affordable, the administration’s plan to modify mortgages for people on the verge of losing their homes. The servicers include [...]

by Robert Reich
The Administration is coming up to that magical 100-day mark, at which point measures are taken of how a new president is doing. As a university professor I’m accustomed to giving grades. So here’s my report card on Obamanomics so far:
The 10-year budget gets an A. It’s an extraordinary vision of what America [...]

 
 
by Robert Reich
With only $110 billion remaining in the TARP bailout fund, all signs are that Tim Geithner is preparing to return to Congress seeking more bailout money. He’ll bring along the results of his bank “stress tests,” which will probably show many that big banks are still technically insolvent, along with bankruptcy scenarios for [...]

 
by Paul Kiel, ProPublica
We’ve been working hard over the past six months to keep tabs on the billions flowing from the Treasury Department. But as the government’s response to the financial crisis has grown and scattered, it’s gotten harder and harder to lay it all out for readers.
The site we’re unveiling today will hopefully make all that a [...]

 
by Alexandra Andrews, ProPublica
Looking for a new job? Mortgage scammers have found a lucrative market in New York City: Prosecutors there tell the New York Times that mortgage fraud runs little risk of arrest while raking in big rewards. Officials at several New York district attorneys’ offices acknowledge that many fraud cases evade prosecution, “saying they lack the staff [...]

by Charley James
For years, Amazon.com has been a flawless on-line marketer.
It has an easy-to-navigate website, the search function is intuitive and fast, products are almost always in stock, lower price alternatives are displayed, targeted recommendations for additional purchases show up when customers buy a book, shipping is reliable and problems get [...]