Demonizing Goldman Leaves Wall Street Off the Hook

Georges Ugeux, 11.20.2009

Chairman and CEO, Galileo Global Advisors

This week's favorite game was attacking Goldman Sachs for its outrageous compensation system, including expectations that the total bonus package f...

Key Question Unasked, Unanswered During Congress' Joint Economic Hearings On The Financial Crisis

Raymond J. Learsy, 11.20.2009

Scholar and author, "Over a Barrel: Breaking Oil’s Grip on Our Future"

Did Goldman and the other banks know for certain that the bankruptcy of AIG was no longer a risk for them? That the Fed and Treasury were now irrevocably committed to saving AIG?

Goldman Sachs Nearly Bankrupted AIG

Janet Tavakoli, 11.17.2009

President, Tavakoli Structured Finance, Inc.

Goldman Sachs wasn't the only contributor to the systemic risk that nearly toppled the global financial markets, but it was the key contributor to the systemic risk posed by AIG.

Goldman Sachs does God's Will while 49 Million go Hungry

Les Leopold, 11.18.2009

Author of "The Looting of America"

The Department of Agriculture reports that 49 million Americans don't have enough food. That's up 13 million over the last year and is highest number ever recorded since the survey began 14 years ago.

TARP Audit Finds Geithner Gave Away The Farm

Jill Schlesinger, 11.17.2009

Editor-at-Large, CBS MoneyWatch.com

Special Inspector General for TARP (aka "SIGTARP") Neil Barofsky said something we've all known for a while: the government gave away the farm when AI...

Wall Street Cheers as Employment Hits 90%

Andy Borowitz, 11.06.2009

BorowitzReport.com

While some on Main Street grumbled that the country was struggling through a so-called "jobless recovery," Wall Street professionals were cracking open the champagne Friday.

Weekly Audit: Too Big to Fail is Just Too Big

The Media Consortium, 11.03.2009

Network of Leading Progressive Independent Journalism Organizations

by Zach Carter, Media Consortium Blogger Last week, President Barack Obama released key legislation designed to fight the banking industry's too-big-...

Warren Buffett and the Business of Life: Part 1 of 7

Alice Schroeder, 10.29.2009

Author, The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life

Warren Buffett is never more himself than when he is given the chance to invest in something he wants at a price of his choosing.

The Full Story of How Tim Geithner Secretly Bailed Out Wall Street at Your Expense

Henry Blodget, 10.28.2009

CEO of The Business Insider

One of AIG's goals last fall was to persuade the counterparties to the credit default swaps it had written to accept buyouts as low as 40 cents on the dollar. Then Tim Geithner, head of the New York Fed, stepped in.

Wall Street's Designer-Dressed Thieves

Mike Papantonio, 10.28.2009

Senior partner of Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, Echsner & Proctor

Open the phonebook and randomly pick the name of a stockbroker or a bank president. Call that person and ask them to explain to you how a synthetic or a derivative actually works.

Happy Halloween: Pay Curbs are a Trick on the Taxpayer, Not a Treat

Marshall Auerback, 10.27.2009

Roosevelt Institute Braintruster

The new pay regulations are ostensibly designed to try to align the financial incentives of managers with the longer-term performance of their firms. This measure reeks of bogus populism.

AIG's Misguided TARP-Funded Bonuses

Rep. Edolphus Towns, 10.28.2009

Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee

The American people have been eager to understand how the government failed to prevent bonus payments from going out the door -- payments that were paid out with their taxpayer dollars.

Why Growing Income Inequality Is Bad for America

Robert Creamer, 10.27.2009

Political organizer, strategist and author

The CEO of the average company in the S&P Index makes $10.5 million. That means that on the first workday of the year, he (sometimes she) has made more than the minimum wage workers in his company will make all year.

My City Is Being Invaded by Banksters

Matthew Filipowicz, 10.24.2009

Comedian, Cartoonist, Satirist

In mere days, my city, Chicago will be overrun by the worst of the worst. The lowest of the low. Criminals who have affected more lives than any mug...

Executive Pay Cuts? Hold the Standing Ovation

Stuart Whatley, 10.24.2009

Huffington Post Associate Blog Editor

Yes, a quick round of applause for Feinberg for cutting our financial wards' CEO pay. But hold off on the standing ovation; the Obama era does not need a "Mission Accomplished" moment.

Arianna Discusses Executive Compensation, Dick Cheney On Morning Joe

Huff TV, 10.23.2009

Arianna Huffington and Gayle King of "O" magazine joined the Morning Joe round table on Friday morning to discuss Dick Cheney's recent criticism of t...

Wiping Blood Off White Buck Shoes

Leo W. Gerard, 10.23.2009

President, United Steelworkers International

In New York, the oldest and snobbiest financial ventures are called "white shoe" firms. Their arrogance, risky investments and confounding dealing in derivatives threw the rest of us into the Great Recession.

Pay Czar Feinberg Speaks and Wall Street Cringes

Jill Schlesinger, 10.22.2009

Editor-at-Large, CBS MoneyWatch.com

Feinberg is not cutting total compensation, he's changing the composition of pay packages -- less cash, more stock with longer vesting periods. In other words, the top guys will have more skin in the game.

Goldman Sachs Skirts Slashes in Compensation

Allison Kilkenny, 10.22.2009

Radio host, writer, allisonkilkenny.com

The Times shows its agenda when it refers to the not-yet-existing AIG bonuses slashes as "the humbling downfall of the once-proud giants" while all those pesky citizens won't stop with the "populist animosity."

Welfare Reform for Wall Street

Les Leopold, 10.19.2009

Author of "The Looting of America"

Our politicians thrive on chastising the fictitious welfare queens who supposedly turn our hard-earned tax dollars into Cadillacs. But when it comes to Wall Street we let the welfare kings walk all over us.

Claims of Financial Reform Victory? You Can't Reform Vampires and Zombies

Marshall Auerback, 10.17.2009

Roosevelt Institute Braintruster

Obama clearly seems to have imbibed some of the Chicago School's free market ideology, and the unspoken assumption that free, unfettered markets are the optimal state.