Say Hello to the Thrift Zeitgeist

Ellen Goodman / Truthdig Dec 11, 2008 Now, competitive consumption has been replaced by contagious anxiety. Buying hit the wall with the housing collapse, the stock market plunge, the credit card crunch and the surge in unemployment figures. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

They Claim the Bailout Is Necessary, but Is It Constitutional?

Stanley Kutler / Truthdig Sep 25, 2008 Wall Street will not trouble its collective consciousness with worry over the Constitution. But this bailout bill is virtually unprecedented in its assumptions and its reach for unchecked power. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

A Fox to Protect the Henhouse?

Robert Scheer / Truthdig Sep 24, 2008 Does it really matter which party is in charge when it comes to bailing out the Wall Street hustlers whose shenanigans have bankrupted so many ordinary folks? Not if the Democrats roll over and cede power to the former head of Goldman Sachs, the investment bank at the center of our economic meltdown. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

No Time for a Minimalist

David Sirota / Truthdig Sep 19, 2008 Barack Obama isn't going to win any arguments about the economy if he keeps winking at the robber barons who helped wreck Wall Street. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

McCain’s Political Games Can’t Compete With an Economic Meltdown

E.J. Dionne Jr. / Truthdig Sep 16, 2008 Americans don't mind wealthy and even rapacious capitalists as long as they deliver the goods to everyone else. But when the big boys drag everyone else down, Americans rise up in righteous anger. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Krugman on Bank Collapse and ‘1931 Revisited’

Staff / Truthdig Sep 16, 2008 Financial columnist Paul Krugman, trying to make sense of the Lehman Brothers debacle, warns that "the defenses set up to prevent a return of those bank runs, mainly deposit insurance and access to credit lines with the Federal Reserve, only protect the guys in the marble buildings, who aren’t at the heart of the current crisis. That creates the real possibility that 2008 could be 1931 revisited." Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Shock Therapy Buzzes On

Staff / Truthdig Aug 7, 2008 Tens of thousands of the desperately depressed sign up every year in the U.S. to have electricity-induced grand mal seizures even though nobody has ever figured out why the treatment works or how severe the associated brain damage is. The good news: You no longer have to be awake, and muscle relaxants now keep your bones from breaking. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

The Rich Get Richer

Staff / Truthdig Jul 28, 2008 According to the most recent data from the IRS, the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans took home a greater share of the nation's income in 2006 than in any year of the previous 19. It's possibly the biggest income disparity Americans have seen since the Great Depression. The average tax rate of the super-rich was at its lowest level in at least 18 years. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Did Bush Put a Hit Out on Fannie, Freddy?

Staff / Truthdig Jul 22, 2008 From madcap marketeer Jim Cramer to wired alt-blogger Scott Thill, there are more than a few braniacs who believe the Bush White House did not just watch the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac but actually engineered it as yet another sortie in the long GOP war against the New Deal. Never fear, though, as The Onion has already written a satirical report on efforts to build a better bubble. Dig deeper ( 1 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 )