‘Daily Show’: The Notorious A.I.G.

Staff / Truthdig Sep 17, 2008 Whither Lehman Brothers? Et tu, Merrill Lynch? What's going on on Wall Street? Jon Stewart breaks down the financial meltdown on Tuesday night's edition of "The Daily Show" -- complete with '80s monster movie allusions. Sweet! Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Socialism for the Super-Rich

Staff / Truthdig Sep 17, 2008 Here we go again: The Federal Reserve is bailing out another tanking financial institution -- the insurance behemoth American International Group -- by sinking $85 billion into AIG in return for a stake in the company. Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called for a Wall Street investigation following this latest startling agreement between big government and big business. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Markets Brace for More Turbulence After Monday’s Drops

Staff / Truthdig Sep 16, 2008 President Bush and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. attempted to head off mounting market woes and investor freak-outs at the pass on Monday as Wall Street suffered its worst losses since right after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Markets Respond to Fannie, Freddie Takeover

Staff / Truthdig Sep 9, 2008 Investors have been throwing money at stock markets the world over following the news that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been placed under federal conservatorship. Some analysts are confident that the move will stabilize the mortgage giants and, in turn, a tanking housing market. With hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars on the line, let's hope they're right. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

From Surplus to a Record Deficit

Staff / Truthdig Jul 29, 2008 George W. Bush rode into office with a budget surplus, courtesy of his predecessor. When he leaves in January, he will not return the favor. The White House estimated the budget deficit for next year at a record $482 billion -- and that doesn't include the full cost of two wars, the potential bailout of Fannie and Freddie, the full stimulus package or the loss of tax revenue from an economy in the toilet. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Early Estimates of Bailout Range to $100 Billion

Staff / Truthdig Jul 23, 2008 The independent Congressional Budget Office has announced the expected federal taxpayer bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will appear as a $25 billion budget expense, but that the real bill could be anywhere from zero to $100 billion. This, even though the once-governmental agencies were formally privatized in 1968. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Wall Street Socialism Meets Disaster Capitalism

Staff / Truthdig Jul 16, 2008 Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were always more foul than fish, says Robert Borosage, and the bailout announced by the Treasury secretary over the weekend will mean "private speculators, having driven the stock down, will clean up on the upside." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Bush Angling to Help Fannie and Freddie

Staff / Truthdig Jul 15, 2008 President Bush is still insisting that the U.S. economy is in generally good shape, even as he asks Congress to support legislation to help Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, while insisting in the same breath that he's not proposing a "bailout" for the ailing mortgage companies. Hmmm. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Democratic Voters Agree: Bail Us Out

Staff / Truthdig Apr 17, 2008 According to a new L.A. Times/Bloomberg poll, the vast majority of Democratic voters in the next three primary battlegrounds want the government to bail out struggling homeowners. Most don't seem to care that the Fed rescued Bear Stearns; they just want the same treatment. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Billions to Business in Foreclosure Bill

Staff / Truthdig Apr 16, 2008 With a mind-set reminiscent of the Bush administration's recent bailout of mortgage lenders, the Senate last week approved the Foreclosure Prevention Act, a bill that provides billions of dollars in tax breaks to big businesses like Ford and General Motors but takes only modest steps in addressing the plight of homeowners. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

The USS Economy

Mike Luckovich / Truthdig Apr 10, 2008 Dig deeper

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 )