Jill Schlesinger is the Editor-at-Large for CBS MoneyWatch.com. As the face and voice of MoneyWatch.com, Schlesinger blogs daily and is a regular contributor on economic and market-related topics across CBS, including the CBS News Early Show, the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, and CBS Radio stations nationally. Prior to the launch of MoneyWatch, she was the Chief Investment Officer for an independent investment advisory firm. In her infancy, she was an options trader on the Commodities Exchange of New York.

Blog Entries by Jill Schlesinger

Gasparino: The SEC is "INEPT"

Posted November 16, 2009 | 01:23 PM (EST)


Here's my interview with Charlie Gasparino, author of "The Sellout". In addition to calling the SEC "inept," watch to the end when he describes Wall Street CEO's. Can you guess which of the former Masters of the Universe is: "The Iconoclast," "Nasty," "Nastier," "Smart," "Twerp-ish" "a Man's man" and...

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Jobs Report: Unemployment Breaks 10%

22 Comments | Posted November 6, 2009 | 09:44 AM (EST)


10.2% -- that's the most important number from the October Employment Report. For the first time since 1983, over 1 out of every 10 American is out of work. How's that for starting your Friday with some sobering news?

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"Too Big Too Fail": An Interview With Andrew Ross Sorkin

Posted November 2, 2009 | 10:04 AM (EST)


I'm starting to get the hang of this interview thing...of course it's easier when the guy on the other side of the table grew up in the same town. Sadly he is so much younger than I, that we only knew a few of the same teachers--Mr. Sloan and Ms....

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Consumers Aren't Buying Stimulus Jobs "Success"

5 Comments | Posted October 30, 2009 | 12:41 PM (EST)


I'm getting sick and tired of everyone talking about how much worse shape we would be in, but for (fill in the blank: TARP, stimulus, auto bail outs...) Even if it's true, it doesn't make anyone feel better. That's what I keep thinking when Obama Administration officials sound like cheerleaders...

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Executive Compensation: The Best Halloween Costume

7 Comments | Posted October 26, 2009 | 11:13 AM (EST)


Dressing up executive compensation as the salvation of regulatory reform is the best Halloween costume of the year.

Limiting executive compensation is a terrific way to appease the masses and make it look like you're doing something without having to embark on the hard work of true regulatory...

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Pay Czar Feinberg Speaks and Wall Street Cringes

4 Comments | Posted October 22, 2009 | 11:52 AM (EST)


Channeling his inner Russian emperor, Pay Czar Kenneth Feinberg's compensation edict shook top executives at some of the nation's biggest banks. The Special Master will cut the cash component of salaries for the top 25 earners at the companies he oversees: AIG, Bank of America, Citigroup, Chrysler, Chrysler Financial,...

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Wall Street Bonuses: Four Questions

Posted October 19, 2009 | 03:27 PM (EST)


Today is the 22nd anniversary of "Black Monday," when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.6% in one day. Over two decades later, people are waking up to another form of Black Monday -- one where we are asked to make sense of the mind-blowing...

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100th Bank Failure Coming: Small Biz Loses in Recovery

1 Comments | Posted October 16, 2009 | 11:26 AM (EST)


While everyone has been focused on big bank earnings this week, I've been thinking about small banks. The FDIC expects that these institutions will continue to be under pressure from bad loans made in the boom times. Soon, we're going to see the 100th bank failure in...

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Credit Card Companies: Legalized Drug Dealers Strike Again

Posted October 9, 2009 | 10:08 AM (EST)


Yesterday, Bloomberg reported that Wells Fargo plans to raise interest rates on all credit card customers by 3% on November 30th. Funny coincidence-House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank wants to speed up the enactment of the Credit Card Act from February 22, 2010 to December 1.

Sometimes...

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October Investing: A Spooky Month for Stocks?

Posted October 5, 2009 | 07:34 AM (EST)


The US stock market was down the first two days of October, which has been a month of some scary markets for investors. Sure, statistically speaking, September has actually been the worst month for stocks, but October has seen some wild rides.

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B of A's Ken Lewis: Beware What You Wish For

3 Comments | Posted October 1, 2009 | 09:31 AM (EST)


Ken Lewis, the embattled CEO of Bank of America has always been full of surprises. It sure took my breath away when Lewis bought Countrywide Mortgage on the eve of the biggest mortgage meltdown in US history, not to mention his shot gun $50 billion acquisition of Merrill...

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Consumer Confidence: Broadway Musical Needed!

Posted September 29, 2009 | 11:30 AM (EST)


I have confidence in sunshine
I have confidence in rain
I have confidence that spring will come again
Besides which you see I have confidence in me

-from The Sound of Music (music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II)

Ah, if only life were a...

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Not Breaking News: Regulator Just as Dumb as Ordinary Investors!

Posted September 25, 2009 | 09:17 AM (EST)


You probably don't realize it, but there is a mammoth securities regulator that is not a government entity. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), is the largest independent regulator for all US securities firms, overseeing nearly 4,800 brokerage firms, about 173,000 branch offices and approximately 647,000 registered securities representatives.

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Fed Meeting: What's on Bernanke's Mind?

Posted September 23, 2009 | 10:09 AM (EST)


When the interest rate decision is announced today, the Federal Open Market Committee will most likely leave its current monetary policy unchanged and say that "economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period."

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Baucus Health Care Plan: Bye-Bye Public Option

7 Comments | Posted September 16, 2009 | 03:02 PM (EST)


The wait is over: the Senate Finance Committee's formal health care bill has finally arrived! Chairman Max Baucus unveiled the Senate version, "America's Healthy Future Act of 2009," which sounds eerily like a breakfast cereal. The 10-year $856 billion Senate plan is a $44 billion savings from the number...

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Obama's Financial Reform: All Talk, No Action

Posted September 14, 2009 | 04:57 PM (EST)


It's just so predictable: use the anniversary of Lehman's bankruptcy to talk about regulatory reform. President Obama's Financial Rescue and Reform speech today at Federal Hall (a beautiful building downtown, that's worth a visit if you are in the neighborhood) was laden with some harsh words: "there are some...

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Health Care: Complicated Concepts and Fuzzy Math

3 Comments | Posted September 10, 2009 | 11:05 AM (EST)


It's no wonder that Americans are struggling to understand health care reform: the stuff is complicated and dense. I learned my lesson on The Early Show this morning, when trying to succinctly describe who will pay for the plan.

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What Obama Won't Say: Your Taxes Are Going Up

11 Comments | Posted September 8, 2009 | 01:26 PM (EST)


When President Obama speaks tomorrow night, here's what he won't say: your taxes are going up. OK, maybe the lowest echelon on taxpayers will be spared, but anyone who does the simple math can see that the amount of money necessary to finance health care reform, along with existing...

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Labor Day Employment Report: If It's So Good, Why Do I Feel Bad?

1 Comments | Posted September 4, 2009 | 11:45 AM (EST)


Another Friday, another employment report. The results are in -- and the Labor Department said that 216,000 were given the heave-ho last in August, bringing the total number of Americans out of work since the beginning of the recession to 6.9 million. Yes, that was good news.

When I...

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The U.S. Government Made Money?

6 Comments | Posted August 31, 2009 | 06:56 AM (EST)


Last Friday, I noted that taxpayers had made money from TARP. Nobody was talking about this too much -- maybe a little August-itis or attention on the Kennedy funeral. That changed yesterday, when the New York Times reported that profits from the eight banks that have fully repaid...

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