Forget recession. Is America in the midst of a full-blown, no-joking, outright depression?

"If the notion that we are merely living through the aftereffects of a mere 'recession' that ended in 2009 sounds somewhat ridiculous, that's because it is," says Richard A. Posner, a federal judge and law...

There's finally a serious Republican tax proposal on the table, and it's a plan which deserves consideration.

The nation, of course, now has a massive budget deficit. Not since four straight years of surplus under Bill Clinton has the government broken even much less had a few spare dollars. Under...

The International Monetary Fund has announced that it's placing help wanted ads to find a replacement for disgraced IMF President Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

"We've taken out adverts in major newspapers worldwide," said IMF spokesman Gunter von Hessel-Bottom. "They'll be right there under 'banker.'"

"The ideal candidate will have an extensive knowledge...

Newly-minted Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has a way to instantly save $53 billion from the federal budget. His plan? Eliminate HUD, cut its budget to zero.

According to Senator Paul, among other things, we need to end public housing and rental subsidies.

“Rather than providing a one-time stop for...

Stashed away in a drawer somewhere on Capitol Hill is a simple piece of legislation that would have done much to stop the mortgage mess, robo-signing, unfair foreclosures, and the growing claims against lenders. But Congress has not touched the Produce the Note Act since it was first introduced...

If there's one thing that's certain about the Jon Stewart rally it's that the attendance has been grossly under-counted.

This is not just sour grapes or an effort to re-write history. All anyone has to do is to look at a map.

Let's start with the 1963 March on...

The latest stumble in the foreclosure mess -- and probably not the last -- has been the revelation that huge numbers of sworn affidavits have been improperly signed. This is not a one-time whoopsie of the type we all make. This is a large-scale practice in which tens of thousands of affidavits were...

For all the headlines given to foreclosure affidavits and robo-signing virtually no one has mentioned the real point, the idea that the affidavits themselves may not prove loan ownership regardless of how they were signed.

For several years foreclosure defense attorneys have been telling anyone who would listen that...

The news from the National Association of Realtors for August is fairly brutal and speaks for itself:

"Existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, dropped 27.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.83 million units in July from a downwardly revised...

Today we celebrate Labor Day but we don't celebrate labor. We're quickly dividing the country into rich and poor and shrinking the middle class. It's a formula for national disaster.

It used to be that a basic American value was a fair day's wages for a fair day's work. Over...

Just about every posting regarding the Obama mortgage modification program says it's a dud. Those on the left say not enough has been done, those on the right say too many homeowners are washing out of the program. What's too often left out is any sense of context.

The reality...

BP has announced that it will expand its consumer products division during the next few months, bringing an array of new brands to local stores.

According to company spokesman Sir Lionel Hardwick Grovesvenor, the company has a need to expand revenues in the face of changing marketplace realities.

"We are...

As banks have gotten bigger and badder there's been an increasing urge to go elsewhere, to send business to community banks and local credit unions, so when it comes to the Huffington Post's move your money campaign you can count me in. Indeed, you can follow me.

I don't...

With all the yelling and screaming in Washington regarding financial reform the fact remains that predatory lending remains perfectly legal and will be perfectly legal once a financial reform package is passed.

"The Wall Street reform bill in Congress represents the strongest consumer financial protections in history," says President...

The word this morning is that a suspect in the Times Square bombing has been captured. The New York City police, the border patrol, the FBI and other governmental agencies did a remarkable job assembling evidence, tracking down leads and assuring public confidence. While the investigation is not complete,...

America's banks hold derivatives valued at more than $200 trillion, about a third of the world total.

Hopefully Wall Street has it figured out just right and there won't be any major losses. After all, when has Wall Street ever been wrong about financial instruments?

"Derivatives are dangerous,"...

For all the talk of reform on Wall Street, a quicker and easier way to assure that big banks don't fail and small borrowers don't get screwed is to simply fix the mortgage origination system.

Fixing the mortgage system is crucial if we're to prevent another financial meltdown. If the...

The news is now filled with SEC accusations that Goldman Sachs defrauded investors who bought mortgage-backed securities, allegations Goldman Sachs strongly denies.

But nowhere in the news do we hear of any effort to help the mortgage borrowers whose screwing made the financial meltdown possible. While...

If you've been getting strange calls from your mortgage lender demanding payment, don't be so quick to reach for your checkbook -- such calls could be nothing but efforts to get money before it's due. Or they could be outright frauds, a form of identity theft.

Let me explain:

I...

A spokesman for former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has confirmed that the potential 2012 Republican and Tea Party presidential candidate will be marketing a new line of woman's lingerie.

"Gov. Palin has a perfect right to market her name and services," said spokesman Klibbell Korgorth. "No one complained or made...