From the monthly archives:

January 2010

The Frayed Plumage of the Davos Mentality

January 31, 2010

The czars and kings of Europe could not grasp why the people revolted against the high taxes, low wages, and hunger inflicted upon them by those who knew only opulence and self-aggrandizement.  The Davos mentality still cannot fully understand the resentment of a public saddled with massive unemployment and a bill for bailouts and social [...]

Read the full article →

Question for Secretary Geithner: What Does “Recuse” Mean?

January 27, 2010

In his sworn testimony today before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner reasserted that he had recused himself from making any decision in connection with AIG payments to Goldman Sachs in November 2008.  But he also testified that he was made aware by Fed officials that the payments [...]

Read the full article →

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 [...]

Read the full article →

Outrage of the Week: The Day the Supreme Court Expropriated Democracy

January 22, 2010

The greatest experiment in democracy the world has ever known, made great because of its concept of checks and balances, is about to become bought and paid for with checks from Walmart and the like.  It is a decision that is tailor-made to place a heavy coat of cynicism on a public already overly clothed [...]

Read the full article →

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 [...]

Read the full article →

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 [...]

Read the full article →

But Where Was the Board, Mr. Chairman?

January 13, 2010

At the opening hearing of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, the bipartisan committee formed by Congress to investigate the causes of the great financial meltdown, there were four chairmen of key Wall Street players in the crisis.  There was much anticipation over the proceedings held today in Washington.  Since its formation last spring, the Committee [...]

Read the full article →

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 [...]

Read the full article →