Working Life

I got a couple of emails about my post yesterday that posed the idea that the danger from trade deals is higher than the spying uproar underway. And those emails were, how should I say, skeptical about my point. Fair enough. Let me expand.

Read the full story

   This past Friday, I wrote that the financial powers were winning the debate on Capitol Hill. Today, another victory for those powers: The Senate on Tuesday voted unanimously to require a one-time audit of the Federal Reserve’s emergency actions during and after the 2008 financial crisis as part of broad legislation overhauling the nation’s […]

Read the full story

   The forces trying to instill some rollback of the power of the financial elites suffered two defeats yesterday. First, Bernie Sanders’ amendment to bring more scrutiny to the Fed was watered down. Where did the pressure come from to let the Fed continue to operate in the same way it did before the crisis–a […]

Read the full story

   It may seem relatively small but there will be an excellent window through which to view the president’s future intentions: will he be for the people or for the financial interests? Many people have already made up their minds–for good reason. But, this will be a moment–will the Administration veto the financial reform bill […]

Read the full story

   Some momentum on opening up the Fed to more scrutiny, via The Wall Street Journal: Rep. Ron Paul said he has a commitment from the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Barney Frank, to advance the Texas Republican’s legislation opening the Federal Reserve to broader federal audits. In an interview Friday, Mr. Paul […]

Read the full story

People are missing the point about the reappointment of Ben Bernanke to head the Federal Reserve Board. Appoint him or not, choose a Republican or a Democrat or not–until we decide to change the way we see the role of the Federal Reserve Board, and how the economy is structured, the power over our lives […]

Read the full story

    Apparently, Timothy Geithner threw a fit. Fascinating. Mainly because it says a lot about the power struggle underway for control over the economic system. Here is a snippet from The Wall Street Journal article: Friday’s roughly hourlong meeting was described as unusual, not only because of Mr. Geithner’s repeated use of obscenities, but because […]

Read the full story

   One of the enduring myths of Washington insider language is the need for the Federal Reserve Board to be "independent". This is utter nonsense and is, to a great extent, the reason our economy has collapsed–not just over the past year but over the past 30 years as it has failed to translate the […]

Read the full story