Wall Street Pay Fattens as Rest of U.S. Suffers

Staff / Truthdig Jul 3, 2009 Unemployment rose to 9.5 percent last month, the highest level in 26 years. Meanwhile, Wall Street payouts are not dropping. Goldman Sachs will be shelling out a whopping $20 billion to its employees this year. As we enter the 20th month of this recession, unemployment is becoming a way of life for many, and the very same people who created this mess are still reaping the profits. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Is Larry Summers Taking Kickbacks From the Banks He’s Bailing Out?

Staff / Truthdig May 30, 2009 Why did Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley steer millions to a company Larry Summers directed while he administered "stress tests" on them? Dig deeper ( 7 Min. Read )

As Smash-and-Grab Capitalism Collapses, the French Economy Shines

William Pfaff / Truthdig May 17, 2009 Many in Britain and the United States are in mourning for what's taken as the suicide of the American (or Thatcherite, or Chicago-school) model of capitalism, accompanied by the non-interventionist state that hands the national economy over to business and financial leaders to run. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

New York Fed Chairman Steps Down

Staff / Truthdig May 8, 2009 Although he went down insisting that his relationship to Goldman Sachs had been "mischaracterized," New York Federal Reserve Chairman Stephen Friedman resigned on Thursday after The Wall Street Journal, with a boost from Truthdig, brought up the issue of a potential conflict of interest earlier this week. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Cashing In on ‘Government Sachs’

Robert Scheer / Truthdig May 6, 2009 We are so inured to tales of business corruption that even a devastating exposé in The Wall Street Journal no longer shocks us. The fact that the chairman of the New York Federal Reserve Bank made millions off his secret purchase of Goldman Sachs stock has barely registered a blip of outrage. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Thievery Under the TARP

Robert Scheer / Truthdig Apr 22, 2009 We are being robbed big-time, but you can’t say we haven’t been warned. Not after the release Tuesday of a scathing report by the Treasury Department’s special inspector general, who charged that the aptly named Troubled Asset Relief Program is rife with mismanagement and potential for fraud. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Living Large and in Charge

Robert Scheer / Truthdig Apr 8, 2009 Not surprisingly, Lawrence Summers is convinced that he deserved every penny of the $8 million that Wall Street firms paid him last year. And why shouldn’t he be cut in on the loot from the loopholes in the toxic derivatives market that he pushed into law when he was Bill Clinton’s treasury secretary? Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Wall Street Showered Obama’s Top Economic Adviser With Riches

Staff / Truthdig Apr 6, 2009 Lawrence Summers is the man President Obama turns to for insight into the economy, so it's more than a little disturbing that the very financial institutions the taxpayers are now rescuing -- to the tune of nearly $3 trillion -- paid Summers almost $8 million last year. Goldman Sachs & Co., a major beneficiary of the government's largesse, paid him $135,000 for one speech. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Amy Goodman and Robert Scheer: Should Geithner Step Down?

BLANK Mar 20, 2009 Truthdig's Robert Scheer appeared on "Democracy Now!" on Thursday to tell host Amy Goodman who exactly sent the U.S. into financial dire straits and to recommend some changes that could put the country on a better track. Here are some hints: One culpable party rhymes with "Shmoldman Shmacks," and another is at the top of President Obama's economic team. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Geek Love Endures on Wall Street

Staff / Truthdig Mar 10, 2009 Despite the apparent reality that it's not possible to precisely quantify everything under the sun, particularly when it comes to human behavior, the worrisome trend of "quants" -- experts from physics and other scientific fields -- infiltrating Wall Street firms to apply their skills to the stock market is still in effect. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Runaway Wall Street

Robert Scheer / Truthdig Feb 4, 2009 It is instructional that only one of the three tax-challenged Obama appointees has survived public scorn to claim a high position in the new administration. Oddly enough, it is Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the man who will collect our taxes, whose career has not been stunted by his failure to pay them. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

The Battle for Obama’s Economic Soul

Robert Scheer / Truthdig Oct 22, 2008 Instead of running with the "European socialist" crowd, as John McCain has claimed, Barack Obama has turned to the same American “free market” elite that views government as merely a corporate subsidiary. Even within that group, however, there are serious splits, and the more enlightened side seems to be winning. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )