New York, January 4th: It's a new week, a new year, and some, erroneously believe a new decade. What's not new is the stranglehold the banks have on our economy, quietly stashing billions for more bonuses, while still restricting the flow of credit. Bad loans have been supplanted by no...

Funny how, back in 1929, we had black Thursday and then Black Friday as the market crashed, plunging the country into a depression. Now we have every retailer in every mall in America on their knees praying for a prosperous black Friday this week.

Here's the scenario...

Daily Finance.com: "Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) faces a gargantuan public relations headache when it reports third quarter result.

We know that Wall Street has not learned much from the crash it helped instigate. We know that our government, whatever its stated desire to clean up the markets and reform the financial behemoths, lacks the willingness and perhaps the clout to rein in the real power centers. We are...

When the CBS suits shuttered WBCN in Boston, the radio station I used to work for, one more institution that at time was known for offering critical and independent news was snuffed out.

A former reporter and DJ there, Bill Lichtentsein wrote, "From the moment it hit the air, the...

Welcome World to Pittsburgh: Time For More Than Yak at the G20?
Can Obama Help Forge A Global Consensus for Deep Economic Change?

Dear International Leaders and Guests,

FROM THE PRESIDENT'S WELCOME:

Michelle and I look forward to welcoming world leaders to the wonderful city of Pittsburgh...

The Mob Wants A Taste....

"The money is flowing into familiar territory for those with a history of feeding at the public trough. Two of the largest portions of the stimulus pie in the New York City area are going to sectors of the economy -- Medicaid and infrastructure projects...

Economic Stress Is Hidden, But It's There in a Recovery That Isn't.

Last week I was telling a visiting filmmaker from overseas about the financial crisis and how it was getting worse. He looked at me askance. The market had just gone up, he said, and the White House...

Why Wall Street Is Pleased By the Focus On Debating Health Care

New York, New York: The thermometer is in the red as the heat of August blends into the steam of the health care fight. These two hot subjects seem to be fogging up TV screens during these dog...

Continuity of Administrations Seems on Deck in D.C.
Why Does Barack Obama Follow The George W. Bush Playbook?

Do the initials C.O.G mean anything to you? That acronym stands for Continuity of Government. We heard about it back in 2001 when Dick Cheney was taken to...

AS OBAMA'S SUPPORT ERODES, THE RIGHT IS RESURGENT
Will Progressives Respond To The Attempt to Overthrow The President?

The tide of public opinion may be turning against the President. Pollsters report growing skepticism about health care reform, and more active hostility on racial matters, thanks to that...

What a time for Iconomania, none of it critical, none of it questioning, none offering deeper perspective or leading to very revealing coverage.

Politicians may rule but celebrities dominate in a culture where every politician dreams of shaping an aura that inspires hero worship and adoration. That was Barack...

Can Doing What Seems to be The Right Thing Turn Out To Be The Wrong Thing
In Promoting Protectionism, American Labor May Be Putting US Workers At Risk

Leo Gerard of the United Steelworkers union is one of America's most progressive and outspoken labor leaders. I was impressed when...

Are our markets being manipulated by "rogues" or firms? There's New Evidence to Suggest that Crime In The Financial Markets is Rife

Everyone has heard of the Wikipedia but not everyone knows about the Investopedia, a Forbes website, that monitors finance for market players. One of the...

As Independence Day approaches, the question of the day remains--just how independent are we?

Our Declaration signed on a July 4th declared us so to be. And, dutifully, generations of Americans have believed we were and always would be. The late Michel Jackson even had us singing...

A recent study cited by the Editor of the Financial Times argues that we are now in a Depression although no one wants to use the term or face the music.

Recall that it took the National Bureau of Economic Research a full year to recognize the...

Can it possibly be true that the Congress can't walk and chew gum at the same time? This question is prompted by the announcement that financial reform is being pushed back as health care becomes the priority.

This makes me nervous for two reasons. First, it portends...

You still want to like him, even if it has now been confirmed that the President of the United States travels with an official food taster or so the French news agency reported.

"They have someone who tastes the dishes," said waiter Gabriel de Carvalho from the "La Fontaine de...

"No Investigation, No Right To Speak"-- Chairman MAO

Anniversaries are always pretexts for news pegs, and when the 20th year since the Tiananmen protests and massacre in China rolled around, it was not surprising that every media outlet outside of China marked the event with pages of reminiscences and...

Is this an age of financial reform, or plunder without end? Will all the financial reforms lead to change or just prop up the status quo?

New York, New York: It is almost axiomatic to argue that renewal comes out of chaos. And reform and change are born in crisis.