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By Cathy Wilkerson
$17.79
By Mark Twain
$19.22
$20
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Photo by jpellgen
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In the span of less than a week, Facebook’s much-maligned initial public offering has led to billions in losses, multiple investigations and even lawsuits. The mess created from all this chaos, however, has led to some lessons about how Wall Street and big businesses play the system for their own economic advantages.
Posted on May 24, 2012
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Todd Ehlers (CC BY-ND 2.0)
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The American banking industry enjoyed profits of $35.3 billion in the first quarter of 2012, the industry’s best performance since 2007, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. But it did so largely because banks put aside less money to cover bad loans, while keeping a lid on new lending.
Posted on May 24, 2012
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AP/Jae C. Hong
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By Robert Scheer — President Obama is to be applauded for questioning Mitt Romney’s legacy, although his motives seem to be as opportunistic as those of Romney’s opponents in the Republican primaries who took the same tack.
Posted on May 23, 2012
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Pat Bagley, Cagle Cartoons, Salt Lake Tribune —
Posted on May 19, 2012
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Daryl Cagle, Cagle Cartoons, MSNBC.com —
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Manny Francisco, Manila, The Philippines —
Posted on Mar 20, 2012
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Groundbreaking research in behavioral economics may pose the greatest academic threat ever to free-market theory, suggesting that emotions linked to brain chemistry—not rational self-interest—play a deciding role in how we spend, save and invest.
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Jon Wade (CC-BY)
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Despite hefty bailouts and infinitesimal interest rates, Citi, Ally Financial, MetLife and SunTrust were not able to pass the latest round of stress tests designed and measured by the Federal Reserve.
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Gamma Man (CC-BY)
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By Ellen Brown, Truthout —
Conventional wisdom holds that government bureaucrats are bad businesspeople. But around the world, the many countries with strong public banking sectors generally have strong, stable economies.
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Luojie, Cagle Cartoons, China Daily, China —
Posted on Feb 26, 2012
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Last week on Truthdig Radio: Robert Scheer on the mortgage settlement, MLK in his own words, and “A Queer History of the United States” author Michael Bronski on Rick Santorum, Proposition 8, Ellen DeGeneres and gay marriage in Washington state. (This is a pledge show.)
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Photo illustration from an image by Colin Grey (CC-BY)
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Last week on Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: Robert Scheer on the mortgage settlement, MLK in his own words, and “A Queer History of the United States” author Michael Bronski on Rick Santorum, Proposition 8, Ellen DeGeneres and gay marriage in Washington state. (This is a pledge show.)
Posted on Feb 12, 2012
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Elliott Brown (CC-BY)
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The BBC reports that while the United States and the U.K. have made a habit of buying too-big-to-fail banks and then looking the other way, the safest banks in the world aren’t just owned but operated by civil governments.
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Photo illustration from an image by Colin Grey (CC-BY)
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This week on Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: The great Internet switch-off; the ACLU vs. jailhouse abuse; S&P’s downgrade mania; Robert Scheer on the election, and Chris Hedges discusses his lawsuit against the president.
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This week on Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: The great Internet switch-off; the ACLU vs. jailhouse abuse; S&P’s downgrade mania; Robert Scheer on the election, and Chris Hedges discusses his lawsuit against the president.
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AP / Dan Steinberg
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By Robert Scheer — Count the liberal mayor of Los Angeles as one of those apologists for suppressing truth in the name of civic order.
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Devin Smith (CC-BY)
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By Amy Goodman — Occupy protesters decided to march on local branches of the too-big-to-fail banks, so participants could close their accounts, and others could hold “teach-ins” to discuss the problems created by these unaccountable institutions.
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WELS.net (CC-BY)
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Father Eduardo Samaniego, the Jesuit pastor of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in San Jose, Calif., protested foreclosures by Bank of America against those in his flock and beyond by moving $3 million of his parish’s funds to a local credit union. (more)
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DonkeyHotey (CC-BY)
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By William Pfaff — The program to oust the Occupy Wall Street movement from its sites of occupation is now under way. The Occupied, who own the police, have grown tired of the Occupation.
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This week on Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: David Lazarus tracks the cash from phone and bank fees; good news for unions; moving money out of big banks; anarchy in the USA, and “digital parasites.”
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Photo illustration from an image by Colin Grey (CC-BY)
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This week on Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: David Lazarus tracks the cash from phone and bank fees; good news for unions; moving money out of big banks; anarchy in the USA, and “digital parasites.”
Posted on Nov 11, 2011
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Richard Newton (CC-BY)
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The same ratings firm that held the United States hostage to its debt demands and gave the thumbs up to toxic mortgage assets is again in the news for bungling things. Standard & Poor’s accidentally announced a downgrade Thursday of France’s AAA credit rating.
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AP / Damian Dovarganes
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By Robert Scheer — There is no three-strikes law for crooked bankers, who usually get off with a fine and a promise not to do it again, and again and again.
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Sasha Y. Kimel (CC-BY)
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Saturday is the day 80,000 people have pledged to punish “too big to fail” banks by moving their money to credit unions and local community institutions. How does it work? Will banks feel the hurt? How can it be done quickly and conveniently? Josh Harkinson at Mother Jones answers these questions and more.
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zoer (CC-BY)
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Critics of the financial industry and some clergy members are upset over suppression by St. Paul’s Cathedral of a report that would appear to reveal a shared denial of responsibility for the financial crisis within the London banking community. (more)
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Jeff Parker, Cagle Cartoons, Florida Today —
Posted on Oct 20, 2011
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John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune, Missouri —
Posted on Oct 1, 2011
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Randall Enos, Cagle Cartoons —
Posted on Sep 29, 2011
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Flickr / epSos.de
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If you’re tuned into your social surroundings, you’re likely to hear people arguing over whether raising taxes on the rich would be a good thing or a bad thing for Americans. With election season on its way, the noise and volume are bound to rise. (more)
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AP / Charles Dharapak
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By Robert Scheer — With a record 46.2 million Americans living in poverty, it’s getting too late to give President Obama a pass on the economy.
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Flickr / I-5 Design & Manufacture
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Bank of America has confirmed a plan to eliminate 30,000 jobs “over the next few years,” 10,000 fewer than what The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The layoffs will amount to about 10 percent of the bank’s workforce. Update (more)
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Flickr / Chris Devers
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According to the Project on Student Debt, the average arrears for graduating U.S. students is $24,000, but that figure is low for many who are entering a state of sustained debt peonage during the wonder years of young adulthood. (more)
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Flickr / woodleywonderworks (CC-BY)
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Federal regulators filed lawsuits against 17 financial institutions Friday afternoon for allegedly misrepresenting the poor quality of mortgage securities they sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at the height of the housing bubble. (more)
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White House / Pete Souza
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By Robert Scheer — The administration has rushed to the aid of the banks once again and is attempting to intimidate the few state attorneys general who have the gumption to protect the public interest they are sworn to serve.
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Flickr / stevendamron
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Essayist, Yale English professor and TomDispatch contributor David Bromwich takes a careful accounting of the “sacked” and “saved” members of the Obama administration in an attempt to reveal the similarities between his presidency and George W. Bush’s. (more)
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how will i ever (CC-BY-SA)
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Britain’s riots were not political, we are assured, and looting is simply un-British, but “Shock Doctrine” author Naomi Klein takes a different view: From Iraq to Argentina, when corrupt elites pass the bill to the struggling masses, civil unrest is to be expected.
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Pat Bagley, Cagle Cartoons, Salt Lake Tribune —
Posted on Aug 14, 2011
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AP / Carolyn Kaster
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By Robert Scheer — Republican hypocrites are out to settle ideological scores that have nothing to do with the debt they themselves ran up.
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AP / Pablo Martinez Monsivais
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By Robert Scheer — Obama’s gutless decision to abandon Elizabeth Warren comes after the president populated his administration with the very people who created the financial meltdown.
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Robert Scoble (CC-BY)
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Fearing a tough confirmation fight, the Obama administration has decided that Elizabeth Warren will not head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Instead, the White House will nominate Richard Cordray, who was already selected to be the agency’s top enforcer and who, in his previous gig as Ohio’s attorney general, had put himself on the map by suing big banks. (more)
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The biggest threat to WikiLeaks isn’t the house arrest of Julian Assange or the militaries of frustrated world governments—it’s the financial blockade by PayPal, Bank of America, Visa and other institutions that has cut off $15 million in donations (by WikiLeaks’ estimate).
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AP / Frank Franklin II
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This week we celebrate New York’s attorney general for refusing to let Wall Street off the hook. (More, including honorable mentions, after the jump).
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Oisin Prendiville (CC-BY-SA)
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These are remarks Chris Hedges made in Union Square in New York City last Friday during a protest outside a branch office of the Bank of America.
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By David Sirota — For most of history, we had undebatable definitions of words such as bailout and bankruptcy. Sadly, that’s not the case during a deficit crisis that is seeing language redefined in ideological terms.
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By David Sirota — Decisions by bought-off elected officials highlight a larger corporatist ideology—one that says attracting the best and brightest to the “greed is good” financial industry is more important than attracting that work force to common-good endeavors.
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The following excerpt from Robert Scheer’s book “The Great American Stickup” details the perversion of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
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