Economy

GOP Gags Witnesses on Credit Card Woes

Republicans on a consumer credit subcommittee required witnesses to waive privacy rights to their financial history before testifying about run-ins with credit card companies.

The Plunge Protection Team

An elite group of financial sector protectors just celebrated its 20th birthday.

The End of Cheap Food?

If cheap food is a thing of the past, the result could be disastrous for fighting poverty and could bring an end to the long-term rise in U.S. living standards.

U.S. Economy Looks Like Weimar on the Brink

Twentieth-century economic history generated two great bogeymen: the Great Inflation and the Great Depression. The memory of both continues to haunt policy-makers.

PART ONE: Mortgage Crisis Triggers Walk Aways

The once reverent relationship between buyer and home is changing. Owners no longer hang on to homes above all else.

 

PART TWO

Credit Crisis Only Begins With Mortgages

The hard reality is that the economy is facing a one-two knockout blow from a collapse in consumer spending, plus a shock-and-awe wave of asset write-downs that is wreaking havoc in the financial sector.

How Fraud Fueled the Mortgage Crisis

The question of who did most of the lying and cheating will be crucial in deciding who deserves help in any housing rescue plan.

Imploding Credit Bubble to Hit $1 Trillion

From 2002 through 2005, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan kept banks’ own borrowing rates lower than the rate of inflation – in effect, for bankers, money was free.

Adoption Rules Tighten Abroad

Cultural changes, restrictions and shutdowns are changing the landscape of families produced by the "adoption revolution."

Greenspan Defends His Legacy As Housing Crisis Widens

On his watch, the Fed failed to rein in abusive and predatory practices that caused millions of people to lose their homes. Now Greenspan can't stop a growing movement to put some brakes on the financial markets.

'Toxic Titles' Haunt Cities in Mortgage Meltdown

Investors fueled the market for risky mortgages, and now cities and neighborhoods must handle the fallout.

Time to Buy Gold Bars?

Testimony on the Bear Stearns bailout maneuvering suggests the depth of the abyss that financial leaders have dug for the U.S. economy.

Edwards Moves on With MoveOn

$20-million activist effort targets 'obstructionist" members of Congress -- Democrats as well as Republicans -- that don't seek a rapid withdrawal from Iraq.

The Saudi Arabia of Food

Don't panic when U.S. farmers switch crops.

McCain Unlikely to Cash In on Economy

Could the economy, rather than a disgruntled conservative base, trip up Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican front-runner?

Exurban Buyers Abandon Depreciating Homes

PART TWO

 

Little noise is heard in some exurbs these days, but the fluttering of for sale signs.

 

PART ONE: Mortgage Crisis Triggers Walk Aways

Is Our $3 Trillion War Fueling a Recession?

A battle of ideas is swirling, as economists like Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz cite war costs as as one cause of the subprime mortgage crash.

Bailout Bernanke: Hero of Wall Street

Why did the the Fed think it had to pay to make a deal happen, instead of letting the market take its course?

Is the Worst Over?

Not by a long shot.

Washington Revisits Big-Bank Regulation

If investment banks and hedge funds are going to dip into the Fed's emergency pot, some in Washington think they should face regulation like any other commercial bank.