The Government’s Foreclosure Rescue Mirage
Mother Jones published a new investigative story of mine today on the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program, its $75 billion, largely taxpayer funded foreclosure prevention program. The one that’s been one big bust. I’ve excerpted the piece below, and you can check the full thing out and comment on it here, at MotherJones.com. (Which you should do!)... Read More
Will U.S. Back Bogus Afghan Elections?
The fact that tomorrow’s presidential election in Afghanistan will be mired in corruption, fraud, and backroom dealing is all but certain, writes The Nation‘s Ann Jones, author of Kabul In Winter and an incisive voice on all things Afghan. The more pressing question, she says, is this: Will the U.S., in the name of demonstrating Afghanistan’s "progress"... Read More
Four Reasons to Foil the Fed
Like oil and water, the Federal Reserve and transparency do not mix. Or, as the incisive Bill Greider, author of Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country, wrote in a recent cover story for The Nation: “The Federal Reserve is the black hole of our democracy—the crucial contradiction that keeps the people and their representatives from having any voice... Read More
Det News op-ed: ‘Mayoral control isn’t the answer for Detroit schools’
A recent op-ed of mine appeared in one of the big Michigan papers, the Detroit News, not too long ago. It’s about why mayoral control—a bad idea in the first place, I believe—is an even worse idea in a city like Detroit. Education Secretary Arne Duncan came to the Motor City in May to peddle his mayoral-control message to Detroit Public School leaders that, quite frankly,... Read More
The ‘Greatest Swindle Ever Sold’ Swindles On and On and On…
I’ve been blogging quite a bit at MotherJones.com, where I’m now working, on the ever-growing swindle that is the government bailout. It’s at around $13 trillion dollars now, and as I show, it’s painfully clear that the bailout has nothing to do with taxpayers or small-business owners or normal citizens. Instead, this has been a bailout of the banks, by the... Read More
The fate of mountaintop mining removal heads for Capitol Hill
I’ve been blogging mostly for my new employer, Mother Jones magazine. Here’s a recent post about the upcoming Senate hearing on mountaintop removal mining practices and whether they’re soon to be banned by the government. *** MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL’S FATE HEADS TO CAPITOL HILL On Wednesday afternoon, lawmakers in Washington, DC, will finally take up the fate... Read More
Wash Indy: “Government Taps Bailout Contractors With Conflicts of Interest”
Continuing with the theme of corruption, obfuscation, crony capitalism and the like with our much maligned bailout, I highly recommend this Washington Independent article on the shady dealings of the private contractors behind the scenes of the more than $12 trillion bailout. Here’s an excerpt: As the Wall Street bailout nears its first anniversary, the controversy over giving... Read More
The Greatest Swindle Ever Sold
That’s the title of my latest TomDispatch piece. It’s about the U.S. government’s financial bailout, and how that bailout rips off taxpayers by the billions. Here’s a link to the piece. There’s an excerpt from the piece below. Check it out! And while you’re at it, subscribe to TomDispatch’s e-mail alerts too. How can you beat three long-form... Read More
How about the stress tests for the banks on Main Street?
Yes, we’ve heard chapter and verse on the recent stress test announcements for those 19 major financial institutions — that 10 of those banks together need $75 billion in extra capital, that the rest were deemed prepared should the government’s worst-case scenarios become reality. There’s also been plenty of criticism aimed at the stress tests. Mother Jones‘s... Read More
Must watch: Mark Danner & Bruce Fein on Moyers Journal
Journalist and author Mark Danner and constitutional expert Bruce Fein recently appeared on Bill Moyers Journal this past week. Both guests offered one of the most fascinating discussions on the torture memos recently released by the White House, the International Committee of the Red Cross torture report (on which Danner has been the most authoritative voice again and again) and... Read More
