New York City is one of the world's gravitational centers for the media and publishing industries; this, of course, results in an inordinate concentration of English majors. News for up-and-coming English majors that already-graduated English majors are likely well-acquainted with: You're not gonna make any money. Read More
It’s hard to know what to make of the ongoing protests on Wall Street, in part because the protesters themselves haven’t been able to send a clear, coherent message. They are angry, that much is certain. And perhaps some have reason to be angry. But hard times have tested the tempers of many New Yorkers, most of whom have resisted the temptation to block traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge.
Any large protest against the so-called establishment, whatever that may mean, is bound to attract a motley crew of aging baby boomers and feckless hipsters who fancy themselves revolutionaries. But the protesters also include many innocent victims of the terrible downturn, from college-educated young people with few if any job prospects to middle-aged parents who wonder if they’ll ever work again. Read More
Protesters with the Occupy Wall Street movement have been marching, sitting, walking, sleeping, chanting, dancing, drumming and proclaiming in and around Liberty Plaza for eight straight days. Planning for the protest began in July with a call for peaceful revolution by the magazine Adbusters, with the hope that complacent Americans might adopt some of the outrage and effectiveness of the Arab Spring.
The Adbusters writers had a clear aim:
On September 17, we want to see 20,000 people flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months. Once there, we shall incessantly repeat one simple demand in a plurality of voices.Tahrir succeeded in large part because the people of Egypt made a straightforward ultimatum – that Mubarak must go – over and over again until they won. Following this model, what is our equally uncomplicated demand? The most exciting candidate that we've heard so far is one that gets at the core of why the American political establishment is currently unworthy of being called a democracy: we demand that Barack Obama ordain a Presidential Commission tasked with ending the influence money has over our representatives in Washington. It's time for DEMOCRACY NOT CORPORATOCRACY, we're doomed without it.
In their ideological zeal, the new Republicans on Capitol Hill seem eager to gamble everything -- the financial reputation of the United States, the international status of the dollar, even the chance of a worldwide depression -- on a showdown over the national debt ceiling. What has been mostly a routine if unpleasant debate in Read More
Many Wall Street heavyweights shy away from the spotlight -- with good reason. In a world where moneymaking ability frequently trumps all other considerations, it's best to avoid public scrutiny. Despite a tight-lipped culture, though, a few emissaries from the financial world emerge each year -- occasionally for their fantastic achievements, but equally often by Read More
Wall Street tycoons, government regulators and failed outcasts from the world of finance are often measured in their statements to the press, which is why an accidental moment of truth or irony is exceptionally rich when it makes its way through the PR infrastructure that protects corporate America's interests. From the victims of the crash Read More
In 2010, a year marked by a tepid recovery, there were nonetheless some moments of wondrous surprise and genuine shock. Wall Street titans were taken to task, and the markets roiled under the apparent digital whims of robotic traders. Beneath the slow and difficult restructuring of the U.S. economy, some massive and rapid shifts were Read More
Each week, The Observer looks at commodities, stocks, currencies and economic data points that are making big moves and setting new records. This week's extreme action takes place everywhere from the German job market to Russia's dairy farms. For the most hard-core, eye-popping economic action this week, check out the latest installment of ... Read More
The financial panic of 2008 made and undid quite a few careers, but a surprising number of executives haven't traveled far from where they roosted in the runup to the crisis. For a look at people who found new homes while staying in the financial world, check out Artful Dodgers: Bankers Who Landed New Read More
Fresh off a reported settlement of kickback charges and the publication of his financial crisis account Overhaul, former car czar Steven Rattner has taken to the pages of the Financial Times to reassure us that, yes, the U.S. economy has gone to pot, but it's "not quite the basket case" everyone thinks Read More
Analysts are not reacting favorably to recent news about Bank of America, the country's largest bank by assets and the reported recipient of a nasty letter from lawyers representing some of the country's biggest money movers. BofA today suffered downgrades from Chris Kotowski at Oppenheimer and Christopher Mustascio of Stifel Nicolaus. Both took Read More
If political/financial/sports journalist Matt Taibbi were writing the introduction to this slideshow, he would probably do something self-referential, exaggerated and parodic. Something like, "Throughout his aggressive, mischievous, occasionally drug-fueled career, Taibbi has made cunnilingus jokes about a secretary of state, found the lighter side in the death of a Pope and chronicled the historical role Read More
Dear Diary,
I am just simply so dadgum irritated. Just had a day of pure sinking; bathed in red from opening bell to closing bell.
The reason might sound familiar to you: Poorly executed legal paperwork all the way down the mortgage chain: from origination and securitization to the forclosure documents themsleves. It's creating an unsightly, pus-filled Read More
GMAC Mortgage, a subsidiary of mainly government-owned Ally Financial, announced today that it has resumed foreclosure proceedings in 23 states, ending its nationwide moratorium on home repossessions. The Detroit News reports:
"As we review the affected files in the 23 judicial states and take any needed remediation, the foreclosure process continues," said Gina Proia, a Read More
Dear Diary,
Phew! I am feeling so relieved about that whole little foreclosure-paperwork problem. Maybe all that stress I was feeling on Friday was over nothing. The financial stocks led the way today, and I logged a gain of 81 points.
I think I owe at least part of today's victory to Citigroup, which basically said Read More
