From the category archives:

Turbo Populism

Lessons from the Botched EU Bailout and other TARP Follies

May 17, 2010

Ordinary people from Athens to Little Rock have had it with a bloated system where politicians take care of themselves, along with insiders and powerful interests when they run amok, and leave the public to scrimp, sacrifice and struggle to pay more debt. As we predicted, the stock-lifting EUporia over the European rescue plan that [...]

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The Dodge Rahm

March 8, 2010

The recent flap involving the White House chief of staff is another sign that President Obama needs a Paul Volcker of the bipartisan world – – someone whose stature will command instant respect, who can act as a trusted counselor to the President.   It may be one of his last chances to avoid an even [...]

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Is the Senate Buying Another TARP in Ben Bernanke?

January 26, 2010

The Senate’s vote for the Fed’s Chairman will be viewed as a crucial test for who stands with Wall Street and who stands with Main Street. After some slightly encouraging rumblings in the contrary direction, it appears that the Senate is poised to confirm Ben Bernanke to a second term as Chairman of the Federal [...]

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Turbo Populism Arrives in Washington, and Anywhere Else it Wants

January 20, 2010

Wise leaders know that it is never sensible to underestimate either the forces of nature or the power of public outrage. Washington and Wall Street are about to receive an important lesson in history. The winds of change can blow in both directions.  One year ago, they propelled Barack Obama into the White House on [...]

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Outrage of the Week: Super-paid CEOs Who Were Not Supermen After All

January 15, 2010

Never in the history of modern business leadership have CEOs been paid so much to achieve so little at such cost to so many. At the opening hearing of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission held in Washington this week, key players in the worst financial meltdown since the Great Depression admitted they did not see [...]

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The Great Sphinx and the Mystery of the Federal Reserve

January 11, 2010

The latest flap over taxpayer payments to Goldman Sachs confirms the culture of secrecy upon which the Fed in Washington and its New York counterpart are dependent.   They like the dark, closed-curtain life that bankers prefer, where the sunlight of public scrutiny is seldom an invited guest.  It is a culture to which Mr. Geithner [...]

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