2008

• Throwing Good Money...

  Nomi Prins

  Instead of facilitating mergers, we should be reregulating the banking industry and enforcing real transparency.

• State Banks Could Solve Financial Crisis

  Nicholas von Hoffman : U.S. Economy

  Forget big bailouts. The fed should finance non-profit state banks like the Bank of North Dakota--no profit means no reason for bankers to misbehave--to get real money to real people in the real economy.

• Return of the Wall Street Hustlers

  Robert Scheer : U.S. Economy

  Obama, who promised change, has put the same old Wall Street hustlers on his economic team. Maybe he could send us an e-mail to explain.

• Time for a Bank Holiday

  William Greider : U.S. Economy

  No more free money from Washington. No more masters of the universe. No more business as usual.

• Left and Right

  The Editors : U.S. Economy

  If nationalizing banks is suddenly on the table, what else might be placed there?

• Predatory Scapegoating

  Patricia J. Williams : U.S. Economy

  The real scandal of the year is that Eliot Spitzer, brought low by his own bad behavior, had predatory lenders in his sights.

• Debtor Nation

  Robert M. Lawless : Supreme Court

  The Supreme Court has done little to protect a nation of debtors from predatory lending practices.

• Paulson's Bailout Beast

  Nicholas von Hoffman : U.S. Economy

  Henry Paulson's latest plan takes us further down to road to state capitalism, whose only principle is to protect the bankers who created the problem.

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  Hoover, 2008

  Robert Scheer : Presidential Election 2008

  For years, John McCain backed legislation that decriminalized Wall Street's reckless conduct. No amount of New Deal posturing can hide that record.

• Paulson's Plan B

  Nomi Prins : U.S. Economy

  The Treasury Secretary's decision to buy equity stakes in banks still fails to address the fundamental flaws in the system.

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  McCain and the Meltdown

  : Nation History

  Robert Sherrill's pathbreaking 1990 exposé of the savings and loan scandal sheds light on John McCain's deregulatory politics--and our current financial crisis.

• How to Break the Money Monopoly

  Nicholas von Hoffman

  As the next Congress creates a new regulatory structure for our crippled financial system, job one is breaking Wall Street's grip on capital and credit.

• Born-Again Democracy

  William Greider : U.S. Economy

  Congress must take control of the failed financial system until a new president can legislate a more permanent and equitable solution.

• Regional Banks Can Solve the Credit Crisis

  Nicholas von Hoffman

  Take a lesson from Andrew Jackson: Rely on regional banks, not Wall Street, to get money in the hands of people who need it.

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  Desperate Measures

  Nicholas von Hoffman : U.S. Economy

  Remember the National Lampoon cover showing a puppy with a gun to its head? That's the Paulson plan.

• Financial Fascism

  Robert Scheer : U.S. Economy

  Henry Paulson isn't proposing the nationalization of private corporations--he wants a corporate takeover of government.

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  Trust But Verify

  James K. Galbraith & William K. Black : U.S. Economy

  Bernanke is asking for trust he has not earned. Here's a shortlist of conditions to make this a credible deal.

• Goldman Sachs Socialism

  William Greider : U.S. Economy

  Instead of handing Bernanke $700 billion with no strings attached, government should take over the banking and finance sector, clean it up and start funneling money into the real economy.

• Socialism for Bankers, Savage Capitalism for Everyone Else?

  James S. Henry : U.S. Economy

  The bailout jeopardizes the entire progressive agenda, undermines democracy, doesn't compensate us for our money and doesn't solve the problem. Otherwise, it's great!

• Bridge Loan to Nowhere

  Thomas Ferguson & Robert Johnson : U.S. Economy

  The Paulson/Bernanke bailout plan is not the way to go, unless you work on Wall Street. Even if you do, there are compelling reasons to fear it. Here's what Congress should do instead.

• The Mother of All Bailouts

  Nicholas von Hoffman : U.S. Economy

  Even without knowing the specifics of Paulson's staggering rescue plan, you can kiss the environment, preschool education and health insurance for all goodbye.

• Paulson Bailout Plan a Historic Swindle

  William Greider : U.S. Economy

  Paulson's rescue plan represents a historic swindle--all sugar for the villains, lasting pain for the rest of us. Don't let Wall Street get away with this without enacting significant reform.

• Wall Street and Washington

  Steve Fraser : U.S. Economy

  Washington's mission may, at this late date, be an even greater one than Roosevelt's New Deal faced.

• Great Depression II

  Nicholas von Hoffman : U.S. Economy

  Fifty-seven million American families, who put their money in theoretically stable investments find themselves staring into the abyss.

• Screw Wall Street

  Jason Flores-Williams

  Sorry, but I have no sympathy for the sudden poverty of investment bankers who've gamed and likely destroyed our financial system in the relentless pursuit of wealth.