AltWeeklies Wire
Stop the Bleeding: A Plan to Bail Out Scared Homeowners
Governments are bailout banks in exchange for equity stakes in their ownership. Why not offer the same deal to troubled homeowners -- let them stay in their homes in exchange for a piece of their deeds?
Nonprofits in a No-Profit Economynew
As the Dow takes a dive, Chicago contemporary arts group Renaissance Society works on its first endowment.
Chicago Reader |
Deanna Isaacs |
10-14-2008 |
Economy
How Deregulation Led to the Current Bank Collapsenew
In 2000, Sen. Phil Gramm attached a rider to an appropriations bill to deregulate derivatives trading and other complicated financial instruments like collateral debt obligations. This was the effective nail in the coffin for the FDR-era Glass-Steagall Act, which was created to prevent a repeat of the crash of 1929.
Charleston City Paper |
D.A. Smith |
10-09-2008 |
Economy
The American Dream's $700 Billion Price Tagnew
The most important lesson of the country's recent financial turmoil has gone untaught: The United States might be better off financially, economically, and socially if it were more like San Francisco and were a nation of renters.
The Road Not Taken by Congress During the Economic Crisisnew
The so-called stock-injection plan would have given taxpayers ownership of preferred stock in the banks themselves. Not only would the banks have gotten an infusion of cash, but the taxpayers would've received something in exchange other than these "toxic" mortgage assets we've been hearing about.
San Diego CityBeat |
Editorial |
10-08-2008 |
Economy
Entergy's Actions in New Orleans Are Morally Indefensiblenew
Entergy New Orleans is effectively sitting on its hands while two of its sister companies -- Entergy Mississippi Inc. and Entergy Arkansas Inc. -- move to pull out of a system agreement under which six Entergy subsidiaries agreed to share the costs and benefits of generating and transmitting electricity.
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.
A Foreclosure Shell Game in Baltimorenew
Seven neighbors, 11 foreclosures, and more than a million dollars' profit in one neighborhood.
Baltimore City Paper |
Edward Ericson Jr. |
10-07-2008 |
Economy
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
Homeowners Are Being Unfairly Faulted for Wall Street's Greednew
Those nasty subprime borrowers, the financial class bellows, how could they have done this to us? While the catalyst for our present debacle may have been housing loans, they in no way were the cause.
East Bay Express |
Jay Youngdahl |
10-01-2008 |
Economy
Don't Let the Weasels in the Stock Market Doornew
I'm not really surprised when the managers of large corporations do something dishonest. But I'm surprised when they do dumb things against their own self-interest.
C-Ville Weekly |
Al Crabb |
10-01-2008 |
Economy
