President Barack Obama claimed early progress Tuesday night in his aggressive campaign to lead the nation out of economic chaos and declared that despite obstacles ahead, "we're moving in the right direction." At the second prime-time news conference of his presidency, Obama also toned down his criticism of bonuses to executives at bailed-out AIG, and shot back at Republican critics of his budget. ...more

March 24, 2009

Let me see if I have it right: Older Americans ought to keep working in order to lighten the burden of Social Security and assorted benefits on younger generations. ...more

March 22, 2009

Jon Stewart hammered Jim Cramer and his network, CNBC, in their anticipated face-off on "The Daily Show," repeatedly chastising the "Mad Money" host for putting entertainment above journalism. ...more

March 13, 2009

To a nation reeling from recession and facing long-festering problems, President Barack Obama has a simple reminder: "We are not quitters." ...more

February 25, 2009

The Great Depression was not caused by business failure; it was a financial downturn that was mitigated by the government's reactionary and blundering response to the situation. This resembles our situation today. Our government has not learned a thing from history, and it is on the verge of plunging us into another economic disaster because Congress doesn't have enough sense to study in depth and debate the pros and cons of bills that come before them. How will they create another economic disaster for us? ...more

February 3, 2009

The root cause of our current economic disaster is very rich people continually getting much richer at the expense of nearly everyone else. While some of this is attributable to recognizing and exploiting legitimate opportunities, much is a result of stacking the deck. Years of deregulation crippled government oversight while Congress rewarded the rich with generous tax cuts while the deficit and debt soared. Hedge funds, totally unregulated leveraged markets providing astronomic profits for their investors. Wall Streeters and CEOs rewarded themselves with multi-million salaries and bonuses while the rest of us lost ground. Privatizing and the Iraq war created opportunities for lavishing government funds on favored private entities, all accomplished under the aegis of the Republican Congress and the Bush White House. ...more

January 24, 2009

A year that started poorly got worse for many of the nation's home improvement retailers, as the housing market meltdown pushed the economy toward recession and financial institutions sparked a global economic disaster. ...more

January 1, 2009

The American public has seen enough of Congress's political sleight of-hand. ...more

December 19, 2008

Senator Obama advises that the economy will get worse; so does my barber. I am not therefore surprised by daily reports of business failures, or by overpaid CEOs lined up with hands held out for government charity. But I was saddened and disturbed to read, this morning, that the venerable Tribune Co. is "at the edge of bankruptcy." ...more

December 11, 2008

Yet another bank is to be "bailed out," namely CitiCorp. ...more

November 26, 2008