U.S. Economy

Federal Reserve Freakout

Nicholas von Hoffman

The Fed scrambles for solutions to the mortgage meltdown--but saving prudent homeowners also involves bailing out a huge number of wealthy speculators. What good is that?
Market Media Meltdown

Danny Schechter : Television

Financial news outlets, tethered to a mission to pump up confidence and support their advertisers, helped fuel the subprime meltdown.
Poor Is the New Rich!

Annabelle Gurwitch

As waves of poverty wash over the once-affluent, it's nice to know that you can share the pain.
The Candidates Pump Gas

Nicholas von Hoffman : Oil

As Clinton and McCain pander to frustrated voters with tax cuts, the real remedies to rising gas prices go unexplored.
Bitter? You Should Be! Why Obama Is Right

Nicholas von Hoffman : Presidential Election 2008

If you had to choose between Hillary or God for economic assistance, who would you cling to?
The Little Administration That Couldn't

Tom Engelhardt

At the hour of our latest and greatest crisis, don't expect anything of this bunch but the usual heck of a job.
Is This the Big One?

Jeff Faux : Housing & Homelessness

The blowback of housing deflation on our overleveraged financial markets has seriously constricted the flow of credit--the lifeblood of the world's largest debtor economy.
By Bus Through the Middle West

Oswald Garrison Villard : Nation History

A tour of the heartland in the depths of the Great Depression.
A Chaos of Experimentation

Andrea Batista Schlesinger : Progressives, Liberals, & The American Left

The New Deal spirit of "persistent experimentation" yielded impressive results for the country. American leaders can recapture that spirit.
The War and the Working Class

Michael Zweig : Iraq War

Young people drawn into combat by the "economic draft" are being treated just as poorly as all the other workers in this neoliberal economy.
The Wages of Peace

Robert Pollin & Heidi Garrett-Peltier : Iraq War

Spending on the war in Iraq is a job killer. Ending the war would be the real stimulus package.
Who Said the War Would Pay for Itself?...

Victor Navasky & Christopher Cerf : Iraq War

Unwise words from the "experts" who promised a cost-free war.
It's the War Economy, Stupid!

The Editors : Iraq War

Among the major causes of the current economic crisis is the staggering cost of the war in Iraq.
Class War (chart)

: War & Peace

Who's losing and who's winning at home from the US occupation of Iraq?
The Fall of the American Consumer

Barbara Ehrenreich

We have been the world's designated shoppers, and, if we fall down on the job, we take the global economy with us.
The Incredible Shrinking Paycheck

Nancy Cleeland : Economic Policy

Feeling squeezed? It's official: if you're not in management, the value of your paycheck is dropping at an alarming rate.
Half-a-Loaf Stimulus

Nancy Cleeland : Economic Policy

Good news in the stimulus package: low and middle income Americans receive cash to rev a slowing economy. Bad news: tax breaks for businesses won't help much at all.
Wall Street's Crisis

The Editors : Economic Policy

It was a record day in the history of the Stock Exchange and, coming as a climax to more than three weeks of declining prices, it was most disastrous in hammering down security values.
The Panic of 2008

The Editors

A humane and sensible stimulus package would put money in the hands of those who need it.
Chalmers Johnson: America's Going Bankrupt

Chalmers Johnson : US Politics & Government

From Tom Dispatch: The current economic crisis is caused by policies that tax the richest Americans at strikingly low levels and spend huge sums on defense projects that have no bearing on national security.
Desperately Seeking Stimulus

Barbara Ehrenreich : Economic Policy

An economy addicted to growth, bubbles, downsizing and lending sprees--has become disconnected from the real economy of ordinary human needs.
Our Eroding Dollar

Nicholas von Hoffman : Federal Reserve Board

No matter how much it adds to inflation, the Fed, prodded by Wall Street, is poised to again lower interest rates--punching an even bigger hole in our purchasing power.
Twin Disasters

The Editors : Iraq War

When will the candidates cease their petty sniping and address the real issues: the Iraq War and the faltering economy?
Those Ungrateful Saudis

Robert Scheer : George W. Bush

After all he's done for them, why is it that Bush only gets a 12 percent favorability rating in Saudi Arabia?
'Catastrophic Times' for Black America

Max Fraser : African-Americans

The devastating impact of the mortgage crisis on black communities dominated Jesse Jackson's latest economic summit. What solutions does Barack Obama propose?
United We Scam

Steve Fraser : Banks & Banking

Two new books profile the generation of counterfeiters and con men who sprouted up in Jacksonian-era America.

2007

Sovereign Wealth: Theirs, Not Ours

Nicholas von Hoffman : Banks & Banking

As the US economy sickens, foreign governments are on a shopping spree, scooping up bargains paid for by sovereign wealth funds.
Stop the Subprime Tsunami

Rev. Jesse L. Jackson : Racism & Discrimination

Predatory lending is the biggest economic crisis since 1929, especially for the black and brown people caught in its grip.
Give Us This Day Our Daily Debt

Nicholas von Hoffman : Economic Policy

As the superrich get richer, the rest of us sink deeper into debt. But when American consumers can no longer consume, our whole system falls apart.
Beyond the Age of Petroleum

Michael T. Klare : World Economy

Welcome to the Age of Insuffiency: As oil prices hit new highs and supplies sink, our way of life will drastically change.
Toxic Toys

Mark Schapiro : Health & Disease

As safety scandals dampen the public's appetite for cheap imports, the European Union is raising doubts about standards and oversight in the US toy industry.
The Fix Is In From the Fed--Maybe

Nicholas von Hoffman

What, exactly, is the interest-rate cut going to fix?
The Fed Won't Help the Working Class

Nicholas von Hoffman : Economic Policy

By pumping more money into the economy to bail out hedge funds and subprime lenders, the Federal Reserve will only worsen inflation's bite into average Americans' paychecks.
The Economy Debates

Katrina vanden Heuvel & Robert L. Borosage : Campaigns & Elections

Want to know the real differences between the candidates? Listen to what they say about the economy.
Smashing Capitalism

Barbara Ehrenreich : Class

The victims of the housing market's collapse are crippling an unjust economic system.
The New Bipartisan Capitalism

Daniel Morris : Globalization

A new study addressing the plight the American worker in a global economy tries to solve economic inequity through tax policy rather than systemic change. A much broader vision is required.
Wall Street, Iraq and the Declining Dollar

Ken Miller : Iraq War

The Iraq War, the declining supply of oil and a flood of US currency are setting the stage for economic disaster.
The Flaws in Rubinomics

Thomas Palley : Economic Policy

Economic policy centered on a balanced budget will destroy what's left of FDR's New Deal.
Home Truths

: Children & Child Care

That poor children in the United States and Britain have the worst quality of life in the developed world speaks volumes about our misplaced priorities.
Will China Choke on US Dollars?

Nicholas von Hoffman : China

China is losing its taste for lending the United States money that finances our wars, props up our dollar and shores up our credit.

2006

The Growing Wage Gap

Jeff Madrick : Wages & Hours

A winning economic strategy for Democrats: Push for realistic policies to relieve workers' frustrations, rebuild their damaged confidence and improve lifetime security.
Wall Street Doesn't Like This War

Ken Miller : Iraq War

High levels of uncertainty, poor management and an $800 billion expenditure on a venture that has put America's brand at risk all conspire to make the Street pretty skittish about Iraq.
Inequality Counts

Leon Friedman : Poverty

The relentless reduction of taxes on the wealthy has created a profound inequality between the very rich and the bottom half of American society, affecting every aspect of daily life.
J.K. Galbraith and the Forks in the Road

Alexander Cockburn : Economics

While John Kenneth Galbraith was good at pointing out the failures of the free enterprise system, he could never overcome the play-to-win mentality of American capitalism.
Leaking Bubble

Doug Henwood

The US housing market has been responsible for about half the economy's recent growth, but increasing dependence on home-equity credit could create a financial disaster.
A Moral Economy

Fred Block : Ethical Economics

Progresssives must articulate a vision of a moral economy and a benevolent community that challenges the rhetoric of market fundamentalism.
The Price of Inflation

Nicholas von Hoffman : George W. Bush Administration

Bush is using inflation to pay off the deficits incurred by his Administration, leaving future generations with more problems than just debt.
A Warning Bell

William Greider : Democratic Party

Democrats can capitalize on the current economic stall and gain control of Congress with a return to bedrock principles: creating jobs, restoring incomes and rescuing families from debt.
Monetary Zombies

Nicholas von Hoffman : Banks & Banking

We're on our way to being a society of economic zombies, half dead and half alive, buried in debt but prevented by credit card companies from declaring bankruptcy.

2005

G.M. Stumps the Senators

John Keats : Corporate Consolidation

With assembly plant shut-downs and a massive layoff of 5,000 workers, GM has seen better days. Those include the 1950s, when GM was in trouble with the Senate for being too powerful, and accused of artificially raising prices and creating a monopoly in Detroit.
Buyers' Remorse

Nicholas von Hoffman : Housing & Homelessness

Home equity--for those lucky enough to own a house or condo--is a primary source of economic security. But unsold inventory, rising interest rates and record levels of mortgage defaults are making the future look grim.
Rising Prices + Higher Interest Rates = Middle-Class Misery

Nicholas von Hoffman : Federal Reserve Board

Interest rates nosed higher today as the Federal Reserve Board sought to control inflation. But the impact of runaway inflation is already being felt by workers whose wages will stagnate and whose earning power is on a steep decline.
Squeezing the Have-Nots

William Greider : Employment/Unemployment

Fitful efforts to rebuild the Gulf Coast unfold against a backdrop of looming economic disaster: rising unemployment and interest rates, misplaced priorities and a recession that will hurt the weakest most.
Pop Goes the Real Estate Bubble

Nicholas von Hoffman : Banks & Banking

Stocks crash and housing prices tend to go down with a whisper. But a disturbing number of signs now point to a sudden burst of the real estate bubble.
Running on Fumes

Sasha Abramsky : Gap Between Wealth & Poverty

Unless the federal government does something now, rising gas prices have the potential to break the blue-collar backbone of many American towns.
'One Nation, Fragmented'

Eyal Press : African-Americans

It took a Gulf Coast hurricane to make Americans aware of the poverty in their own backyard. Now it's time for public policies that end racial segregation, so that the poor in this country will not continue to suffer.
The One-Eyed Chairman

William Greider : Economic Policy

When the adulation fades, Alan Greenspan will be recognized as a right-wing ideologue and the most politicized Fed chairman in history.
Chinese Shark Attack!

Doug Henwood : China

China panic can be found at the progressive end of the spectrum.
Profiles in Cowardice

William Greider : Democratic Party

Senate Democrats are preparing to take a dive on the issue they have righteously hammered for four years--the estate tax.
The New Ownership Society

Gar Alperovitz : Economic Policy

Progressives should redefine what constitutes an ownership society.
The Dollar's Doldrums

Doug Henwood : Globalization
Fiddling While Crucial Programs Starve

Robert Scheer : Government Programs

Has the United States become like ancient Rome, in love with costly conquest?
Middle-Class Blues

The Drum Major Institute grades Congress.
All the World Is Green

Mike Wallace : Books
Elite Protectionists

William Greider : China