Bailout Outrage

Remember That Whole Thing About Fixing Our Financial System?

Arianna Huffington | Posted 09.06.2009 | Business


Arianna Huffington

"Everybody understands," Geithner said on This Week, "that we cannot have our financial system go back to the practices that brought this economy to the brink of collapse." The problem is, it already has.

What Is So Outrageous About Paying Our Bills?

Larry Gellman | Posted 06.05.2009 | Politics


Larry Gellman

I always thought that taxes were the way we paid our bills. In a democracy we have elected representatives who spend money on our behalf on things like defense, security, wars, bridges, and health care benefits.-

Treasury says bank lending declined in February

AP | MARTIN CRUTSINGER | Posted 05.16.2009 | Business


WASHINGTON — Bank lending to consumers and businesses for many types of loans fell in February despite the billions of dollars in government sup...

Farting Permitted, Politics Prohibited? Does Apple Have a Problem with Political Games?

William Volk | Posted 05.16.2009 | Media


William Volk

On the web games pop up based on current events in days. It would be a shame if that wasn't possible on the iPhone.

AIG's Financial Products Unit Hasn't Signed "Big Bang" Protocol

Financial Times | Michael Mackenzie and Francesco Guerrera | Posted 05.14.2009 | Business


The unit that all but destroyed AIG has failed to sign up for the overhaul of the global derivatives market which was given added impetus by the troub...

AIG Risk Officers Remain In Place, Despite Disastrous Decisions

Huffington Post | Julie Satow | Posted 04.27.2009 | Business


AIG's risk management team, whose job was to manage credit risk at the giant insurer, remain in place despite their disastrous oversight. At least f...

AIG Anger and the Free Market Myth

Charles A. Clarkson | Posted 04.26.2009 | Business


Charles A. Clarkson

What do the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus and the "free market" have in common? None of them exist.

Fred Goodwin Vandalized: Former RBS Chief Attacked

The Guardian | Jenny Percival and Severin Carrell | Posted 04.25.2009 | Business


An anonymous email threatened further action against "criminal" bank bosses after the home of the former Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive, Sir F...

Arthur Delaney

JP Morgan Spending Millions On Jets: Keep Blowing The Whistle On Bailout Waste

HuffingtonPost.com | Arthur Delaney | Posted 04.23.2009 | Business


JPMorgan Chase, beneficiary of $25 billion in taxpayer bailout dollars, plans to spend $138 million for swank corporate jets and a new hangar, ABC New...

5 Constructive And Calming Ways To Channel Your A.I.G. Rage

nytimes.com | ALLEN SALKIN | Posted 04.23.2009 | Living


Ever since it came out that executives at the American International Group received millions of dollars in bonuses following the government's bailout ...

AIG Continues Risky Lending Practices

brucekrasting.blogspot.com | Bruce Krasting | Posted 04.23.2009 | Business


On March 16, 2009 United Guaranty revised its standards for providing the first loss insurance that has caused so much pain... Noteworthy is the fact...

Could Anger at AIG and Geithner's New Bank Plan Help Unions?

Art Levine | Posted 04.22.2009 | Business


Art Levine

The aim of the new union-backed populist uprising is to fight back against the same corporate interests that are now scheming against raised living standards for workers.

Capitalism and Moral Sentiments

Jeffrey Sachs | Posted 04.21.2009 | Business


Jeffrey Sachs

The fascinating thing about this Wall Street greed is that it is so deeply ingrained that neither the bankers themselves nor our economic leadership understands just how disgusting and dangerous it is.

Goldman Sachs, Obama, Money

Bob Ostertag | Posted 04.20.2009 | Politics


Bob Ostertag

Have things changed so dramatically that Obama will have room to dump his biggest campaign contributers overboard? That question will be answered in the coming weeks.

Wall Street CEOs Push Back On Bonus Tax: "Terribly Unfair"

Wall Street Journal | JOE BEL BRUNO and MATTHIAS RIEKER | Posted 04.20.2009 | Business


The chief executives of the nation's three largest banks on Friday pushed back against legislation that would heavily tax Wall Street bonuses. Citigr...

Billions In Merrill Lynch Bonuses Would Elude Tax

NY Times | LOUISE STORY | Posted 04.20.2009 | Business


Merrill Lynch's $3.6 billion bonus pool has been among the most controversial payouts on Wall Street. But most of those bonuses, which included some 7...

Arthur Delaney

Activists Hosting 'Bus Tours' Of AIG Executives' Homes

HuffingtonPost.com | Arthur Delaney | Posted 04.20.2009 | Business


On Saturday, the Working Families party is organizing a "Lifestyles of the Rich and Infamous" bus tour of Connecticut homes belonging to executives fr...

Frank Wants Fannie, Freddie Retention Bonuses Canceled

AP | ALAN ZIBEL | Posted 04.20.2009 | Business


WASHINGTON — Mortgage giant Fannie Mae's chief executive and a top government regulator warned Friday that canceling bonuses for workers at inst...

Bonus Outrage: AIG Employees Are Living In Fear

AP | JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN | Posted 04.20.2009 | Business


FAIRFIELD, Conn. — Longtime pillars of the community are now pariahs living in fear, hiding behind locked gates and security guards amid the pub...

Bernanke: Compensation Must Be Monitored

AP | JEANNINE AVERSA and JACQUES BILLEAUD | Posted 04.20.2009 | Business


PHOENIX — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Friday called for banking supervisors to pay "close attention" to compensation practices as t...

Naughty, Naughty Boys and the Collateralized Commodity Bailout

Robyn O'Brien | Posted 04.20.2009 | Business


Robyn O'Brien

A hot new trend among traders is betting on packages of energy and agricultural futures. Kind of like the bankers bet on subprime mortgages, traders recently invented Collateralized Commodity Obligations.

AIG, Toxic Assets and the Call to Personal Sacrifice

Raymond J. Learsy | Posted 04.20.2009 | Business


Raymond J. Learsy

If there has ever been an example of "sow and ye shall reap" gone awry, it is the madcap stripping of the national treasure by those who have brought us to the edge of the cliff.

Protests Across Country Focus on Workers' Strife, Citizen Journalists Report

Matthew Palevsky | Posted 04.20.2009 | Politics


Reporting by Natasha Chen, Daniel Howes, Karen Kilpowicz, Pamela Mays McDonald, Linda R. Monk, Dorothy Noble, Elizabeth Ross, Jim Stevenson, Betty Ten...

An AIG of conservative enlightenment? Hardly.

Karl Frisch | Posted 04.20.2009 | Media


Karl Frisch

Little Limbaughs throughout the media are taking El Rushbo's cue, lining up, pitchforks in hand, rallying to the defense of the little guys at the bazillion-dollar insurance behemoth.

Stop the Financial Services "Super Czar" (Updated)

Don McNay | Posted 04.20.2009 | Business


Don McNay

There has been talk about appointing a new "Systemic Risk Regulator." This "Super Czar" would oversee all of the financial services industry. We had a "Super Czar" last year. His name was Henry Paulson.