Business & Economy

The AMA Does Not Represent Us

Staff / Truthdig Jun 15, 2009 As the American Medical Association begins its annual convention in Chicago, we want to take this opportunity to make it clear to the American public, to the media, and to the president and members of Congress, that the AMA does not represent us. In fact, the AMA represents less than one-third of America's physicians, and half of those are retired. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Reagan Didn’t Do It

Robert Scheer / Truthdig Jun 3, 2009 It would be nice to blame Ronald Reagan for the economic meltdown, as Paul Krugman did recently, but the facts don't support it. Unfortunately, the real villains are closer at hand. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

GM’s Fall and the Cars of My Youth

William Pfaff / Truthdig Jun 3, 2009 I wonder what my father would have thought of the self-destruction of General Motors. We were a General Motors family, but not a happy one. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

A Lemon of a Bailout

Eugene Robinson / Truthdig Jun 2, 2009 With GM's bankruptcy filing on Monday, we the people have become majority owners of a museum-quality piece of industrial history. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Chevron, Shell and the True Cost of Oil

Amy Goodman / Truthdig May 27, 2009 The economy is a shambles, unemployment is soaring, the auto industry is collapsing. But profits are higher than ever at oil companies Chevron and Shell. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

A Chance to Avert Tragedy

Marie Cocco / Truthdig May 21, 2009 So now we know that pilots responsible for the safety of about a quarter of the flying public rest up for duty by catching a few winks in an airport lounge, or sleeping in idle aircraft or aboard a cross-country flight from their hometowns to their airport home base. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Our Loss Is BlackRock’s Gain

Robert Scheer / Truthdig May 20, 2009 How much do you know about BlackRock and the hedge funds they manage? Better bone up fast, now that the folks at BlackRock are calling the shots in the government’s trillion-dollar bailout program. BlackRock execs are now directing key elements of the government program at a time when they stand to reap great profits from the fallout of a problem they helped create. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Credit Card Debt for the Tween Set

Staff / Truthdig May 19, 2009 On Monday, Sen. Byron Dorgan took the chamber floor with visual aids to warn of the dangers of luring small children into bad spending habits with colorful credit cards. While we applaud his efforts, he does seem a bit fixated on Hello Kitty. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Mom’s Dreary Retirement Prospects

Marie Cocco / Truthdig May 9, 2009 Not to ruin brunch, but Mom's probably not doing very well. Not if she's already retired, not if she's a baby boomer approaching retirement, not if she's a younger woman who hasn't yet given retirement a thought. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

A World Without the Globe?

Eugene Robinson / Truthdig May 5, 2009 We have gone through other periods when great newspapers succumbed to new economic realities. Most American cities once had three, four or more competing dailies; now, most are down to just one. But those earlier rounds of attrition were exercises in survival of the fittest. The difference now is that newspapers are in trouble no matter how fit they are. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

The End of the Middle Class as We Know It

Marie Cocco / Truthdig Apr 30, 2009 This is how it ends. Or at least, this is how the latest, sad chapter in a story that has been ending for three decades is written. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

The Clinton Bubble

Robert Scheer / Truthdig Apr 29, 2009 Has Timothy Geithner ever had lunch with a non-megamillionaire who has lost his job or home because of the banking meltdown? I ask that question after reading the list of the treasury secretary’s luncheon dates when he was head of the New York Federal Reserve, a list that the government was forced to provide in response to a lawsuit. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )