AltWeeklies Wire
Guess Who the Economic Crisis is Hurting Most? (Hint: It Isn't the Fat Cats)new
The people feeling it hardest are ordinary workers -- Joe and Joann Doe on Main Street. Meanwhile, the fat cats from bellied-up and bailed-out businesses on Wall Street are walking away with tens of millions of dollars for doing such a good job blowing the economy to high heaven.
If Wall Street Gets a Bailout, Will Infrastructure Get a Boost?new
There has never been a more stark contrast between two radically different prescriptions for economic recovery than the one that is playing out here in New York, in the state that is the home of the finance, insurance, and real estate economy -- which just blew up.
Chumps & Champs in the Financial Meltdownnew
No matter who is in the White House next year, the script has already been written. Bailout or fallout -- any outcome will cost us big. The money has to come from somewhere.
Investment Adviser: Bailout Plan Won't Helpnew
Vancouver-based Ian Gordon, a proponent of early 20th-century Russian economist Nikolai Kondratieff's wave theory of the cycles of capitalist systems, doesn't have much confidence that a bailout would make things much better.
The Georgia Straight |
Carlito Pablo |
10-03-2008 |
Economy
Thanks a Lot, Milton Friedmannew
The worst thing that can happen to an economist is for the politicians to come over to his side and actually implement his grand idea. This week, the men who did the task for Friedman in the United States, or at least some of them, had to sift through the rubble in a very public and self-conscious way and explain why it all turned out so badly.
Arkansas Times |
Ernest Dumas |
10-03-2008 |
Economy
Wall Street for Dummiesnew

The stock market sets the confidence level for the rest of the country. It rallies, we rally. It panics, we eat Ramen noodles. Now we discover our trusted financiers are just overly aggressive and obnoxious sales weasels.
Boston Phoenix |
Kara Baskin |
10-02-2008 |
Economy
Workers Will be Forced to Pay for Wall Street's Failuresnew
The Masters of the Universe have been revealed as naive speculators who believed that property values could only go up. The journalists who preached the blessings of unregulated free markets have been unveiled as blind ideologues at best, and at worst paid propagandists. The response of American politicians at all levels has been pathetic.
The Georgia Straight |
Gwynne Dyer |
09-30-2008 |
Economy
Why Are We Bailing Out Bad Banks with Our Money?new
Here's the truth: Our economy is teetering on the point of collapse. Nobody is telling you the full truth about that -- not the media, not the candidates for president.
Metro Times |
Jack Lessenberry |
09-30-2008 |
Economy
How Washington Could Shape the Future Coming Out of the Meltdownnew
Let's talk about reform, and your money, and what government should do now that there is a genuine, world-class financial crisis.
Dude, Where's My Bailout?new
The newspaper biz could use some government help too. An open letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
New Haven Advocate |
Andy Bromage |
09-25-2008 |
Economy
Obama's Mortgage Plan Has Already Been Tried and Defeated in Congressnew
Obama's proposed legislation would allow judges to adjust the mortgage terms of homeowners who are in bankruptcy, so they'd have a better chance of saving their homes from foreclosure. But such legislation was considered by the Senate in April, and defeated. Both Arkansas senators voted against it. Both say there's a good chance they'd do so again, even if the bill had Obama's backing, and even though they're both Democrats and supporting Obama for president.
Arkansas Times |
Doug Smith |
09-25-2008 |
Economy
Dean Baker: No Blank Check for Wall Streetnew
Done properly, Baker says, the $700 billion "bailout" of Wall Street and the big banks shouldn’t cost the taxpayers a dime. "My view," the progressive economist told the Indy following a speech in Raleigh, "is that [the bailout] is necessary, but if it's structured right, we're not giving the banks anything. We're keeping the banks functioning, and that's in the public interest."
Comrade Bush Nationalizes the Banksnew

The panicky flight from free-market orthodoxy in the United States is bound to fuel a revival of government intervention and welfare-state policies in the rest of the world. In the United States itself, however, they are likely to hang the wrong culprit in the end.
The Georgia Straight |
Gwynne Dyer |
09-24-2008 |
Economy