Working Life

Wall Street loves a disaster. The more chaos, the better–because, no matter what happens to regular people, chaos can mean lots of profits. That is why the deep reform we need in the way the financial world works is so important–and why Wall Street is fighting so hard to stop it.   This past Friday, […]

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We are angry, rightly so, about the obscene bonuses and pay given to bankers and the financial mandarins who destroyed the economy. Part of the problem is that the political dialogue–parroted by the traditional media and the political leaders who are bought and paid for by the financial industry– never questions a basic premise: that […]

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   One reason people are angry–a sense that the elite still get away with what regular people can’t. You may not be able to deduct a penalty but the banks can (via The Financial Times): The planned new US levy on top financial institutions will be tax-deductible, a Treasury official told the Financial Times on […]

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   Let’s review a couple of facts. Over the past 30 years, even though productivity has been skyrocketing, wages have been essentially flat for workers. And we are now living through a period where at least one in five Americans does not have full-time work with decent wages.    But, at least some people are […]

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   Here is one thing that is quite fascinating to me. There is a wave of stories popping up now about taxes being raised on the wealthy, or a fee put on banks, or restrictions put on executive compensation. Today, for example, there is a story in The Wall Street Journal: The grassroots fervor that […]

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   I am not shocked in the least by this story: Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers paid their executives largely in stock, and that stock lost most or all of its value when those companies collapsed. Many people on Wall Street say these examples help make the case that pay incentives were not what caused […]

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   I do not think it was a coincidence that Goldman Sachs announced its drop-in-the-bucket $500 million fund to help small businesses yesterday. Because the most important news is a report issued by the government bailout inspector that says Goldman got a huge gift from the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, led at the […]

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   Yes, we have to rethink how the financial system is set up. Most of the thinking is along these lines: Democrats are advancing proposals in Congress designed to limit the size and complexity of financial companies so that any collapse wouldn’t damage the broader economy, a sign that lawmakers are responding to anti-Wall Street […]

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   Let’s start with a basic premise: anyone who tries to get what is happening in the economy by looking for "green shoots" or the "recovery" does not understand what is happening to real people. Almost one out of 5 Americans–ONE OUT OF FIVE–do not have decent, meaningful work. Forget the media reports about unemployment–as […]

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   Turns out that not only have you, the taxpayer, bailed out the "too big too fail" (TBTF) banks but you’ve likely given them a break over smaller banks. So, say the always-accurate folks at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in a new study: In effect, because of the government safety net being […]

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