Business & Economy

What Future for the Ink-Stained Wretch?

Bill Boyarsky / Truthdig Dec 17, 2008 I’m concerned about the uncertain future for journalists. Without them, who will "watchdog" politicians and bureaucrats, charity officials, cops, educators and the many others who help make our society run? Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )

Workers Laid Off, Executives Paid Off, Bernard Madoff

Amy Goodman / Truthdig Dec 17, 2008 Bernard Madoff's criminal pyramid scheme, in which losses are expected to be $50 billion, paints a grim picture -- unless you are a corporate executive. Read the fine print. Of the TARP bailout funds, only those that were technically spent "in an auction" carry limits on executive pay. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Rep. Dennis Kucinich on His Battle With the Banks

Dennis Kucinich / Truthdig Dec 15, 2008 Once they were as gods, but the deities of the American banking system are now in ruins, plunged from their pedestals into the maw of taxpayer largesse. There was a time when their power was real. Come with me to Cleveland 30 years ago today. Dig deeper ( 11 Min. Read )

We Told You So

David Sirota / Truthdig Dec 12, 2008 With the release of three new reports, there’s no debate anymore about who was correct and who wasn’t concerning the economic collapse and the Wall Street bailout. The studies prove that progressive critics were right and the Washington ideologues and the pundits were wrong. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Unions Aren’t the Problem

Marie Cocco / Truthdig Dec 9, 2008 As Congress and the White House lurch toward possible approval of a loan package for the crippled auto industry, we are undoubtedly in store for more union-bashing. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

‘Left, Right & Center’: Hey, This Really Is a Recession!

Staff / Truthdig Dec 7, 2008 Should the Big Three U.S. automakers be driven out of Washington (or Detroit) without the financial help they desperately need? What's to be done about the massive job losses across the country? Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

A Toyota Takeover Could Save GM

Michael Intriligator / Truthdig Dec 6, 2008 Considering only two options for an imperiled General Motors -- either bailout by the U.S. government or bankruptcy -- omits an important alternative, which I see as the best option: a takeover of GM by Toyota Motor Corp. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Bailout Ballpark

Stanley Kutler / Truthdig Dec 4, 2008 The U.S. taxpayer is on the hook for more than $300 billion of Citigroup's junk investments, so where did the ailing bank find $400 million to put its name on the New York Mets' new stadium? Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Breathing New Life Into Health Care

Marie Cocco / Truthdig Dec 4, 2008 Over the past 10 months, as the hemorrhage of jobs began to push the national unemployment rate toward its October level of 6.5 percent, about 3 million Americans were thrown off the insurance rolls or had their incomes fall so much that they became eligible for Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Class Bigotry Mars Auto Debate

E.J. Dionne Jr. / Truthdig Dec 2, 2008 The auto industry bailout would have no chance of passing without the muscle of the Big Three's unionized work force. Yet you can't turn around without hearing someone trash autoworkers for the terrible crime of trying to earn a decent living. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Merry Wal-Mart, America: Part II

Marie Cocco / Truthdig Dec 2, 2008 Two weeks ago I wrote that this was going to be a Wal-Mart Christmas. I could not have anticipated the most macabre manifestation of the syndrome: the death of a Wal-Mart worker who was trampled by a mob of early shoppers Friday on Long Island. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Starving for Change

Chris Hedges / Truthdig Nov 24, 2008 The swelling numbers waiting outside homeless shelters and food pantries around the country have grown by at least 30 percent since the summer. If Barack Obama continues to turn to the elites who created the mess, if he does not radically redirect the nation’s resources to assist the working class and the poor, we will become a third-world country. Dig deeper ( 6 Min. Read )