Working Life

I kind of love the bottom line message delivered to Democrats by my guest, California progressive leader Karen Bernal: Get Good or Get Gone. In the discussion on this week’s podcast, Bernal was speaking directly about the insider Democrats in California who are trying to hold back the rising wave of progressive activists who came […]

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So, Chicago teachers agreed to end their strike, and go back to teaching for an average of $77,000 per year. Which made me think: which is a better bargain?

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    In my search to find something positive among the rubbish cascading across our eyes, let us behold a small ray of positive action. Citibank’s CEO Vikram S. Pandit tried to stuff his pockets full of millions of dollars more in bank money. The shareholders were not buying it–and turned thumbs down on his proposed […]

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   Pardon me while I yawn. The measly fine that Citigroup is paying to settle civil complaints charging that the bank defrauded investors is really something else: it’s a stay-out-of-jail, keep-your-reputation card for Robert Rubin and a lot of other senior Citi officials, past and present. Instead, this deal–as was true with the miniscule fines […]

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    This past week, I made the point that the conviction of Raj Rajaratnam was a tale of a relatively little fish getting nabbed, while the big fish who caused the biggest disaster and heartache for most Americans get away. Or cover-up what they have done. Bank of America, Citigroup, G.M.A.C., JPMorgan Chase and Wells […]

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    Via the Financial Times today: The European Commission has opened sweeping antitrust investigations into a collection of the biggest players in the credit default swaps market, including ICE, the industry’s leading clearing house. The investigations, launched by Joaquín Almunia, the competition commissioner, open a new chapter in the commission’s attempts to regulate a group […]

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   I’m about to dash off to a protest at the main postal office here in Manhattan for a Tax Day demonstration sponsored by US Uncut, the NY chapter of the Coffee Party and assorted other malcontents like me. In that spirit, I thought it worth leaving us with this list of the corporate tax […]

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     Forget the criminals on Wall Street. What is more telling, troubling and almost bizarre is how quickly the chattering classes and political power brokers have shaken off the stain of the financial crisis, inviting back to center stage some of the very people responsible for destroying trillions of dollars in wealth and costing millions […]

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   This may not seem like an earth-shaking moment but it is a telling truth about where money flows, who controls it and how little ability we have to oversee the shadow banking done at the margins of our economy.     From the Financial Times: The top 10 hedge funds made $28bn for clients […]

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   Two things caught my eye this morning. Item #1: If you want to know how the power has shifted in the world of banking, The Financial Times has a fascinating full-page story entitled "The fearsome become the fallen". It compares the rankings of the leading banks in 1999 to the rankings right now, as […]

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