As part of the Wall Street reform which was recently passed, a new body was established.  It is called the Bureau of Consumer Protection and Professor Elizabeth Warren is the person most frequently named as a possible chair for that Bureau.  However, her appointment is opposed by those most affected by this new level of [...]

Back in 2009, the Fed was harshly criticized for its inability to handle the looming economic crisis.  Some, like Senator Chris Dodd, were calling for a vast reduction in the poser of the Federal Reserve.  However, that has all changed.  “Far-reaching bank reform legislation has been approved on Capitol Hill that will be signed into [...]

An Illinois attorney, with 35 years of experience and no prior history of discipline, has had his license to practice law suspended for six months for calling a Judge a “narcissistic, maniacal, mental case, [who]… should not be on the bench.”  While I suspect some lawyers have thought such things about their Judges (and Judges [...]

One of my favorite columnists is Ed Wallace.  He writes for the local paper ostensibly about cars, but his columns are invariably about the state of the US economy and often he treads on subjects others are too afraid to talk about, like why we are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Seven years ago, he [...]

Arturo Rodriguez, the president of the United Farm Workers of America, is tired of hearing that illegal immigrants take jobs that legal citizens would otherwise take.  So, together with comedian Stephen Colbert, he is asking legal US citizens, including right wing pundits and elected officials in DC, to take the open farmworker jobs.  “First, dress appropriately. [...]

While the BP oil spill in the gulf is getting world wide attention, little has been reported until now about the almost constant environmental devastation caused by oil spills in Nigeria.   “The Niger Delta has suddenly become a cautionary tale for the US. As many as 546 million gallons of oil spilled into the Niger [...]

The President of the European Commission has issued the following warning: democracy could cease to exist in Greece, Spain and Portugal if the present economic crisis is not solved.  Mr. Barroso (a former prime minister of Portugal) warned of countries running out of money, social services ceasing followed by riots followed by despotism which the [...]

The thing about all of the federal spending which has been done to prop up failing private companies is this: it does not work forever.  This means that unless the influx of money was accompanied by large structural changes in the company’s debt structure (think GM and Chrysler who restructured in Chapter 11 and even [...]

In one corner is an oft used claim of national security; in the other stands the First Amendment, assuming this contest ever made it to a Court of law.  Previously reported was the arrest of the Army Intel officer who leaked information to a web publisher.  Now comes the report that the Pentagon is hunting [...]

“[A]n Army intelligence analyst who boasted of giving classified U.S. combat video and hundreds of thousands of classified State Department records to whistleblower site Wikileaks…”  He was turned in by a man, Adrian Lamo, described as a former hacker, with whom he shared stories of his actions.
“Lamo has contributed funds to Wikileaks in the past, [...]