Waiting For Wall Street to “Pull an OJ” “Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?” –Joseph Welch, head counsel for the U.S. Army, to Senator Joseph McCarthy; Army-McCarthy Hearings (June 9, 1954) With that one, withering rebuke, Joseph Welch spelled the beginning of the end...Read More
Victims Turning Away From — Not Towards — Politics One of the puzzles — at least to me — is why millions of people who’ve been the most harmed by the housing bust haven’t created more of a groundswell for political reform. Or just plain accountability. Yes, I’m aware of the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street...Read More
“What Would TR Do?” “It’s too soon to tell.” –Mao Tse Tung’s response, when asked (in 1947) about the consequences of the French Revolution. Just as perspective is needed to appreciate signal historical events, so, too, is distance required to assess great individuals. More than a century after Teddy Roosevelt successfully challenged the monopolists and concentrated financial...Read More
No Longer AWOL on Financial Reform Notwithstanding a very long public record of Wall Street self-dealing, treachery, and greed on a scale never before witnessed in American (world?) history, New York Times columnist (and St. Louis Park native) Tom Friedman has been silent on the need for systemic financial and political reform. Until today. Our Congress...Read More
Wall Street: Tens of Billions Everyone Else: Trillions . . . in Debt If you are just joining The Crash of ’08 “in progress” (as it were), here’s where things stand: Wide swaths of the country are broke. Their houses are underwater, their jobs (if they have them) are under pressure, and their savings (if they have them)...Read More
Recipe for Recovery. Not.If you’ve been on a desert island the last three years or so, here’s a quick synopsis of the financial crisis so far: When the proverbial sh*t hits the fan, as it did beginning in early 2008, you: 1. Reward society’s greediest and most reckless — that would be Wall Street —...Read More
