Banks & Banking

2009

• Bucking the Banks

  Christopher Hayes : Economic Policy

  How can we expect the experts to reform the financial system when it's experts who got us into this mess to begin with?

• Foreclosure Fiasco

  Robert Scheer : Economic Policy

  The Bush-Obama strategy of throwing trillions at the banks to solve the mortgage crisis is a huge bust. Will the president be able to extricate us from this mess?

• Obama's False Financial Reform

  William Greider : U.S. Economy

  What's missing in the President's call for reform are concrete rules that address a dysfunctional banking system. Slow down the rush to weak solutions.

• The Most Important Financial Journalist of Her Generation

  Dean Starkman : Journalists & Journalism

  Long before most in the business press rose to the challenge, Gretchen Morgenson was reporting that the financial sector had gone rogue.

• Obama's Money Men Finally Get It

  Robert Scheer : U.S. Economy

  Unveiling new proposals to regulate Wall Street, Geithner and Summers now condemn the shenanigans they once abetted and celebrated.

• Sheila Bair Is on Your Side

  Robert Scheer

  The head of the FDIC is looking out for taxpayers--and that's why the big guys on Wall Street and their allies in the Obama administration are out to get her.

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  Reagan Didn't Do It

  Robert Scheer : U.S. Economy

  It would be nice to blame the Gipper for the economic meltdown, but the facts don't support it. The real villains are closer at hand.

• Bankers' Paradise

  Christopher Hayes

  Congress, at the behest of the banking industry, has changed accounting rules to make company balance sheets even more opaque. How is that going to help?

• Our Loss is BlackRock's Gain

  Robert Scheer

  The unregulated hedge fund calls the shots in the government's trillion-dollar bailout program--snapping up bad loans some of its execs originally marketed.

• Lax Little Islands

  David Cay Johnston : White-Collar Crime

  Obama and Congress must get tougher on offshore tax cheats--prosecuting them as criminals and requiring full payment, with penalties and interest.

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  The More Things Change

  Jeff Faux : U.S. Economy

  Wall Street's pervasive influence on Obama's change agenda props up banks, while the real economy continues to suffer.

• Credit Card Holders Have Rights Too

  Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney

  Momentum is shifting in Washington to to protect consumers from arbitrary rate hikes and other unfair and deceptive credit card practices.

• Stress Test: Obama's Rosy Scenario

  William Greider : U.S. Economy

  Good news! Nobody is insolvent! While Treasury declares banks are strong enough to weather the storm, private-sector stress tests tell very different story.

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  Cashing in on 'Government Sachs'

  Robert Scheer

  The chairman of the New York Federal Reserve Bank made millions off his secret purchase of Goldman Sachs stock. But where's the outrage?

• Mortgage Bankers Celebrate Victory

  American News Project

  On the night before the Mortgage Bankers Association won the third round of this ongoing battle, the industry celebrated at the expense indebted mortgage holders.

• As Good as Their Word

  Nicholas von Hoffman : U.S. Economy

  Bank of America's Ken Lewis has done his bit to reinforce the idea that the CEOs who got us into this mess are a pack of liars.

• Are Banks Struggling, or Scamming?

  Nicholas von Hoffman : U.S. Economy

  After all the help that's been given to banks or extorted from the public, we have the feeling financial institutions are not doing much with the money.