Too big to fail? Maybe. Too big to regulate? Not according to some lawmakers.
Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced legislation today authorizing federal regulators to oversee the credit default swaps market — which has ballooned into a $57 trillion industry.
More bad economic news is out today already, with a jobs report showing unemployment leaping to a 14-year high of 6.5 percent — much worse than expected. That news follows on the heels of a devastating retail sales report for October, which found a significant drop in consumer More…
Did foreclosures play a direct role in the election results? At the Orange County Register, real-estate blogger Jon Lansner thinks so. He matched up states with high foreclosures to voting patterns, and came up with this:
States that President-elect Barack Obama won had housing markets in far worse shape
In this deteriorating economy, wealthy people who used to spend their money freely on exotic vacations and $8,000 Birkin bags supposedly are cutting down their conspicuous consumption and trying to be more environmentally sensitive at the same time, The Wall Street Journal says today.
If that’s true, it would More…
On this last day before the election, Sen. Barack Obama is urging voters to relive some humiliating history. Speaking in Jacksonville, Fla., Obama will remind voters of the infamous declaration that Sen. John McCain made in the very same location about six weeks ago, according to a preview of the More…
Is the sky falling? Are pigs flying? Apparently Wall Street executives have become sensitive to the fact that while people are losing their jobs and their homes, financial industry executives are getting set to reap big year-end bonuses, courtesy of the American taxpayer.
They’re actually thinking of curbing some of More…
As the Wall Street bailout program morphs from one helping banks to one benefiting insurers and (perhaps) automakers, the Bush administration is having a hard time explaining what rules are dictating the process — and where it’ll draw lines of eligibility.
It’s an unlikely spot for a conservative White More…
So far it seems those banks and financial institutions fortunate enough to receive billions of dollars from the government are showing their gratitude by hoarding the money for their own purposes, spending it on parties and, now, using it to cover up for major accounting “irregularities,” as they say.
Makes More…
With the mortgage crisis dragging on and no quick fix in sight, lots of new ideas to help people stay in their homes are floating around. Maybe one upside to the lack of action on stopping foreclosures is an opening for some innovation — for ways to break through the More…
Economist and former Labor Sec. Robert Reich, who spoke out early and forcefully in opposition to the $700-billion Treasury Dept., rescue plan, is back again, this time More…
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