Arianna Huffington, 11.09.2009
Last week, JPMorgan agreed to a $722 million settlement with the SEC stemming from a risky derivatives deal that drove Alabama's most populous county to the brink of bankruptcy. As part of the settlement, JPMorgan neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing -- despite ample evidence that it had engaged in plenty of wrongdoing. This is what passes for justice on Wall Street: regulators give a company a ding to its bottom line, and are ready to quickly forget the whole thing and allow the company to move on to the next lucrative money-printing scheme. When corporate perpetrators don't have to admit they did anything wrong, it's as if the crime never happened. Which, of course, makes it much more likely that it will happen again.
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.
Robert Reich, 10.27.2009
Former Secretary of Labor, Professor at Berkeley
Two ideas are floating around Washington regarding how to handle 'too big to fail' banks, but only one is supported by the Treasury and the White House. Unfortunately, it's the wrong one.
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.
Al Norman, 10.22.2009
Editor of the Sprawl-Busters Alert
Wal-Mart is hinting at smaller stores. The reality: land is not available anywhere for the classic Wal-Mart supercenter, weighing in at over 200,000 square feet.
Joseph A. Palermo, 10.20.2009
Author/Associate Professor of History
Whatever Obama decides to do in Afghanistan is of little consequence compared to Wall Street's ongoing "plutonomy."
Andy Borowitz, 10.15.2009
BorowitzReport.com
The historic profits notched by the nation's biggest banks are starting to have a positive impact on the broader economy, with the cocaine and hooker sectors showing striking gains.
Georges Ugeux, 10.08.2009
Chairman and CEO, Galileo Global Advisors
The real issue for regulators around the globe is a serious definition of the financial world we want to live in. The current focus nearly exclusively on the banking sector could cause authorities to miss the broader picture.
Diane Tucker, 10.11.2009
Writer/producer/director living in Washington DC
Taibbi, Rolling Stone magazine's teen heartthrob, became a sensation last month after calling Goldman Sachs "a giant vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity."
Robert Teitelman, 10.05.2009
Editor-in-Chief, "The Deal"
New York Times' reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin's excerpt microscopically examines the actions of some key regulatory and Wall Street players, in this case during the period immediately after Lehman failed.
Fortune's Stanley Bing, 10.01.2009
Fortune Magazine Columnist
Imagine you are Ken Lewis, who yesterday announced his decision to take early retirement from his position at Bank of America. You want to understand why Ken walked? Look at it this way...
Diane Francis, 09.14.2009
Editor at Large, the National Post
A quick survey of market catastrophes reveals that autumn is not only when the traditional harvest comes in, but also when we reap what we have sown -- whether it's corn or bad economic policy.
Michael Moore, 10.21.2009
Oscar and Emmy-winning director
Tonight, at the Venice Film Festival, I will premiere my new movie, "Capitalism: A Love Story." After 16 months of production, I am proud to present this work of mine to you. It is unlike anything you'll see this year.
Michael Moore, 09.20.2009
Oscar and Emmy-winning director
It's a crime story. But it's also a war story about class warfare. And a vampire movie, with the upper 1 percent feeding off the rest of us. And, of course, it's also a love story. Only it's about an abusive relationship.
Robert Scheer, 09.11.2009
Veteran Journalist and Editor of Truthdig.com
Why has it been left to one stellar judge to sound the alarm on Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, and why is Congress and the Obama administration looking the other way?
Jeffrey Sachs, 09.06.2009
Economist and Director of the Earth Institute, Columbia University
Health care reform hangs in the balance at the same time we learn that nine banks, all recipients of federal bailout support, paid an astounding $33 billion in bonuses in 2008.
Rep. Barney Frank, 08.29.2009
Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts
We will prove that the best thing you can do for capitalism is to have rules that give investors the confidence to get back into the system, that protect the great majority of decent people from abuses.
David Fiderer, 08.18.2009
Banker/Writer
The fallout of Paulson's two disastrous decisions (to let Lehman fail and reverse his position on foreclosure relief) prompted the former Treasury Secretary to abuse his powers, with some not-so-veiled threats.
Charles H. Green, 08.12.2009
Author of Trust-based Selling, co-author The Trusted Advisor, speaker, management consultant
This ideology didn't just happen. It was four decades in the making. Sachs and Stanley refined it; private equity and financial engineers distilled it; Merril, Stearns and Joe the Plumber got drunk on it.
Mike Papantonio, 07.31.2009
Senior partner of Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, Echsner & Proctor
For months, Conservatives have been in search of an attack issue to rally around. They've also been desperately searching for someone credible to lead...
John F. Wasik, 07.13.2009
Author, "The Audacity of Help: Obama's Economic Plan and the Remaking of America"
Even before the home bubble burst, homes cost too much for more than four out of ten Americans. About 7.5 million people were spending more than half of their income on housing costs.
