It’s Time to Put the Clamps on Tobacco

Marie Cocco / Truthdig Mar 17, 2009 An idea that has been around for years now has reached that rarest of moments: There is a political environment that should, if reason prevails, produce legislation to require the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco products. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Go Ahead and Sue

Staff / Truthdig Mar 5, 2009 The Supreme Court stood by that most American of rights Wednesday -- the right to sue. By a 6-3 vote, the court decided that federal oversight and warning labels do not protect the pharmaceutical industry from lawsuits. The one-armed Vermont musician involved in the case was thrilled, and not just because she got to keep $6.7 million. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Billions Dished Out in the Shadows

Robert Scheer / Truthdig Mar 4, 2009 We've already given AIG a total of $170 billion -- an amount that dwarfs the $75 billion allocated to helping those millions of homeowners facing foreclosures. And more will be thrown down the AIG rat hole because President Barack Obama is blindly following the misguided advice of his top economic advisers, who insist that AIG is too big to fail. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Government’s Long Night May Be Ending

E.J. Dionne Jr. / Truthdig Feb 26, 2009 Obama's message was plain: The era of bashing government is over. So, too, is the folklore of a marketplace capable of producing abundance without regulation, oversight or public intervention. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Toxins ’R’ Us

Amy Goodman / Truthdig Feb 25, 2009 The American Chemistry Council assures us that "we make the products that help keep you safe and healthy." But U.S. consumers are actually exposed to a vast array of harmful chemicals and additives embedded in toys, cosmetics, plastic water bottles and countless other products. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

A Team of Zombies

David Sirota / Truthdig Feb 6, 2009 Only weeks ago, the political world was buzzing about a "team of rivals," but instead President Obama has populated his administration with Bush yes-men and Wall Street kleptocrats whose discredited theologies cannot be killed. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Ethical Malpractice

Marie Cocco / Truthdig Feb 3, 2009 No need to fumble for words that sum up the stew of hypocrisy, arrogance and insiderism that is the unfolding saga of Tom Daschle. This is the audacity of audacity. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Congress Sings the Bailout Blues

Staff / Truthdig Jan 19, 2009 Want to know where the $350 billion banking bailout went and why it hasn't done a bit of good? Read, and weep over, this little-noticed report from the congressional panel set up to monitor the Treasury Department's distribution of our taxpayer funds. Dig deeper ( 6 Min. Read )

Why I Am a Socialist

Chris Hedges / Truthdig Dec 29, 2008 The free market and globalization, promised as the route to worldwide prosperity, have been exposed as a con game. We will either find our way out of this mess by embracing an uncompromising democratic socialism or we will continue to be fleeced and impoverished by our bankrupt elite. Dig deeper ( 7 Min. Read )

Regulator Gave Blessing to IndyMac Shenanigans

Staff / Truthdig Dec 23, 2008 The Treasury Department's inspector general has been looking into the failure of IndyMac, which set the taxpayers back $8.9 billion, and what he found isn't pretty. It seems a certain regulator let the bank present itself as "well-capitalized" when the truth was something entirely different. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Workers Laid Off, Executives Paid Off, Bernard Madoff

Amy Goodman / Truthdig Dec 17, 2008 Bernard Madoff's criminal pyramid scheme, in which losses are expected to be $50 billion, paints a grim picture -- unless you are a corporate executive. Read the fine print. Of the TARP bailout funds, only those that were technically spent "in an auction" carry limits on executive pay. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Rep. Dennis Kucinich on His Battle With the Banks

Dennis Kucinich / Truthdig Dec 15, 2008 Once they were as gods, but the deities of the American banking system are now in ruins, plunged from their pedestals into the maw of taxpayer largesse. There was a time when their power was real. Come with me to Cleveland 30 years ago today. Dig deeper ( 11 Min. Read )