Business & Economy

Toward a New Washington Consensus

David Sirota / Truthdig May 16, 2008 What passes for smart economic policy is actually a set of right-wing globalization measures that destabilizes the world economy. For the sake of Americans and others, our politicians need to wise up. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Campaign ’08: Giving U.S. Health Care a Checkup

Bill Boyarsky / Truthdig May 14, 2008 On May 5, the day before Barack Obama all but clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, I visited Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, Calif., because I was sick -- sick of stories about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his most famous parishioner and of television close-ups of Obama drinking beer and Hillary Clinton belting straight shots in efforts to show their inner blue collars. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

War Inc.

Staff / Truthdig May 8, 2008 This corporate war is fictional. Any resemblance to a real privatized war, immoral or otherwise, is purely coincidental. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Greed 101 With Larry the Loophole

Staff / Truthdig May 7, 2008 Gee, it sure is hard sometimes to figure out exactly how the rich get richer in American society! Good thing there's Larry the Loophole, who hails from a politician dad and a lobbyist mom, to show us how buyout industry executives like Henry Kravis make gajillions of dollars (well, not gajillions, but so far this year Kravis has made over $33,205,800, with ol' Larry's help. As funny as it is scary, this animated short from Brave New Films breaks it all down. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Colbert and the Anti-Penny Crusader

Staff / Truthdig Apr 11, 2008 You may not have given the penny much thought, but it turns out that the least of our currency is essentially worthless and wastes Americans a surprising amount of money and time. Anti-penny advocate Jeff Gore would like to do away with the coin altogether -- and he has a plan. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

The Wal-Mart Videos

Staff / Truthdig Apr 10, 2008 Hillary Clinton has, for obvious reasons, tried to distance herself from her time on the board of Wal-Mart, the Arkansas company that, for many Democratic voters, emblematizes globalization and all those jobs that were shipped overseas that the candidates keep talking about. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Slap Down ‘Free Market’ Pirates

Joe Conason / Truthdig Mar 27, 2008 For years, District Attorney Robert Morgenthau has warned that the nexus of capitalism and criminality poses a serious threat to America. With Bear Stearns now in ruins, maybe we will listen to him. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Greed Is Not Good

Marie Cocco / Truthdig Mar 25, 2008 The housing crisis brings to mind Gordon Gekko, that fictitious ambassador of Wall Street whose words, then and now, remind us why uninhibited capitalism just doesn't work. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

New Crisis, Old Isms

David Sirota / Truthdig Mar 21, 2008 The Federal Reserve Bank's decision last week to address the housing crisis by extending $200 billion of taxpayer-financed credit to Wall Street banks was met with a stunned reaction typical of surprising events. But really, the move was the expression of longstanding isms that routinely package corruption as sound public policy. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Too Big to Fail

Ellen Goodman / Truthdig Mar 20, 2008 The government spread out a nice, soft net to catch the collapsing financial firm Bear Stearns. But if you're a little guy who gets in trouble, expect to meet up with a somewhat harder surface. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Be Careful What You Wish For

E.J. Dionne Jr. / Truthdig Mar 18, 2008 Never do I want to hear again from my conservative friends about how brilliant capitalists are, how much they deserve their seven-figure salaries, and how government should keep its hands off the private economy. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

‘Mad Money’ Host Tears Over Spitzer

Staff / Truthdig Mar 13, 2008 Jim Cramer is best known as the host of CNBC's "Mad Money" show, but he's also a personal friend of Eliot Spitzer. Here, Cramer becomes emotional as he describes losing the "ammo" to take on Spitzer's Wall Street critics. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )