Your Bailout Bill: $10,000 (and Counting)

Staff / Truthdig Jan 8, 2010 The total price tag for each American for the financial bailout is about $10,000. Could be worse: Brits are paying more than $47,000 apiece. The unemployed bear the brunt of the meltdown, but we all carry a debt for saving Citi, AIG and the rest. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

What Do AIG’s E-Mails Reveal?

Staff / Truthdig Dec 30, 2009 We all know the outcome now, but in the latter months of 2007 executives at AIG seemed to be only starting to catch wind of the problems that eventually led to the nationwide financial collapse the firm helped precipitate a year later. Were they just overly confident? Clueless? Or were they hiding the fact that they knew very well that the jig was up? Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Still Doing God’s Work on Wall Street

Robert Scheer / Truthdig Nov 25, 2009 Jail, anyone? Perhaps that’s too harsh, and at any rate premature, but is anyone ever going to be held accountable for the behind-the-scenes sweetheart deals that passed tens of billions of taxpayer dollars through the AIG shell game to the very banks that caused the financial meltdown? Is anyone ever going to be held accountable for the sweetheart deals that passed billions of taxpayer dollars through the AIG shell game to the banks that caused the meltdown? Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

‘Left, Right & Center’: The Geithner-Summers Backlash; Is Palin Dangerous?

Staff / Truthdig Nov 21, 2009 At long last, it seems that members of Congress, of left- and right-leaning persuasions alike, are harboring serious doubts about a couple of key players on President Barack Obama's economic task force. The right-leaning Tony Blankley thinks that this signals the cyclical, and helpful, breakdown of hyper-partisanship on Capitol Hill. Meanwhile, Robert Scheer thinks Sarah Palin is still scary. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Bernanke Signals Possible End to ‘Too Big to Fail’ Era

Staff / Truthdig Nov 17, 2009 Those financial institutions that viewed last year's bailout as an object lesson that they can carry on as they wish so long as they're "too big to fail" may have to adopt another approach. At least, that was the message Monday from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, if he makes good on words of warning to big banks. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Geithner’s Fed Made AIG Pay Banks to the Max

Staff / Truthdig Oct 28, 2009 That Timothy Geithner must love the big banks he spends all day talking to. Back when he was in charge of things, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York forced AIG to pay off Wall Street tycoons for all those toxic bets, even though the mega-insurer was busy trying to negotiate a better deal. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Zooming In on the Year’s Biggest Hoax

Robert Scheer / Truthdig Oct 21, 2009 Who are these people? I am not referring to the pathetic parents of “Balloon Boy,” whose fake drama I have been unable to escape while on the treadmill this week, thanks to my gym’s insistence on tuning its flat-screen TVs to Wolf Blitzer’s nonstop self-parody. Now if we could get one of the banking lobbyists to float a duct-taped flying saucer balloon, Wolf Blitzer might cover the real hoax. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Public Health Before Wall Street Wealth

Robert Scheer / Truthdig Oct 14, 2009 There is an odd disconnect between the furious public debate over health care reform, with its emphasis on the cost of an increased government role, and the nonexistent discussion about the far more expensive and largely secretive government program to bail out Wall Street. The health care debate has become a convenient distraction from the far more pressing issues surrounding the banking meltdown. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Pox Americana: The Real Cost of Bailing Out Wall Street

Staff / Truthdig Oct 5, 2009 In the 20th century, smallpox killed more people than all of that bloody century's wars combined. It cost $300 million to eradicate the disease. What might have been achieved with the $4 trillion we gave Wall Street? Dig deeper ( 11 Min. Read )

Bank of America CEO to Pack It In at Year’s End

Staff / Truthdig Oct 1, 2009 Another head of another big bank is rolling all the way out the door On Wednesday, Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis made the startling announcement that he was opting to take early retirement, effective the last day of this calendar year. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Too Big to Jail

Mike Luckovich / Truthdig Sep 26, 2009 Dig deeper

AIG on the Mend?

Staff / Truthdig Sep 21, 2009 After narrowly escaping catastrophe during the financial implosion that began last fall, American International Group -- otherwise known as AIG -- is leveling out, according to a cautiously optimistic new report from Congress' Government Accountability Office. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )