Economy Topics

Democracy Now! stories, posts and pages that relate to Economy

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Move Your Money: Project Urges People to Transfer Money Out of Nation's Largest Banks Into Local Community Banks

Economist Robert Johnson, columnist Arianna Huffington and filmmaker Eugene Jarecki, among others, have come up with a new proposal that would allow ordinary people in this country to channel their anger over the Wall Street bailout while also helping invigorate community banking. We speak with Rob Johnson about Move Your Money. [includes rush transcript]
Jan 04, 2010 | Story
Noam Chomsky and Naomi Klein Respond to Obama's First State of the Union

President Obama delivered his first State of the Union address Wednesday night. A full two-thirds of the President’s seventy-minute address was devoted to the economy, the central theme of which was job creation. We get response from MIT professor Noam Chomsky and journalist and author Naomi Klein. [includes rush transcript]
Jan 28, 2010 | Story
Nobel Economist Joseph Stiglitz on Obama's Stimulus Plan, Debt, Climate Change, and "Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy"

As President Obama defends the success of his one-year-old $787 billion stimulus package, we speak to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, who says the stimulus was both not big enough and too focused on tax cuts. Stiglitz is the author of the new book Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy, which analyzes the causes of the Great Recession of 2008 and calls for overcoming what he calls an "ersatz capitalism"...
Feb 18, 2010 | Story
Study: Median Wealth for Single Black Women: $100, Single Hispanic Women: $120, Single White Women: $41,000

The Insight Center for Community Economic Development released a report on the gender wealth gap to mark International Women’s Day. The report found nearly half of all single black and Hispanic women have zero or negative wealth, meaning their debts exceed all of their assets. The median wealth for single black women is only $100; for single Hispanic women, $120. This compares to just over $41,000 for single white women. We speak with the...
Mar 12, 2010 | Story
Part II: Michelle Alexander on “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness”

Part II of our interview with legal scholar, civil rights advocate and author Michelle Alexander. Her book is The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Alexander argues that although Jim Crow laws have been eliminated, the racial caste system it set up was not eradicated. It’s simply been redesigned, and now racial control functions through the criminal justice system. [includes rush transcript]
Mar 12, 2010 | Story
Judge Instructs Fed Agencies to Resume ACORN Funding

A federal judge has reaffirmed her earlier ruling blocking the congressional effort to defund the anti-poverty group ACORN. On Wednesday, Judge Nina Gershon cemented a decision from last year that such action amounted to an unconstitutional “bill of attainder.” Judge Gershon has asked all federal agencies to allow ACORN funding without delay. We speak with National Housing Institute president John Atlas, author of Seeds of Change: The Story...
Mar 12, 2010 | Story
Will Proposed Financial Regulatory Overhaul Actually Reform Wall Street?

With the main healthcare reform bill signed into law, Democrats say congressional efforts to reform Wall Street and the nation’s financial regulatory system will soon top the Obama administration’s agenda. A measure put forward by Sen. Christopher Dodd is being described as the biggest overhaul of financial rules since the 1930s, but critics have faulted the proposal for giving additional power to the Federal Reserve while gutting...
Mar 25, 2010 | Story
Economist Dean Baker: Banks Could Be Big Winners of President Obama's Foreclosure Prevention Program

The Obama administration has announced changes to its signature foreclosure prevention program, Making Home Affordable. The initial foreclosure relief program unveiled one year ago was supposed to help up to four million struggling homeowners. So far fewer than 200,000 borrowers have been granted permanent loan modifications. Meanwhile, a record 2.8 million properties with mortgages received foreclosure notices last year, according to the real...
Mar 29, 2010 | Story
"Looting Main Street" - Matt Taibbi on How the Nation's Biggest Banks Are Ripping Off American Cities with Predatory Deals

In a new article in Rolling Stone magazine, journalist Matt Taibbi takes an in-depth look at the experience of one small Alabama town and its disastrous dealings with Wall Street. Taibbi writes, "The destruction of Jefferson County reveals the basic battle plan of these modern barbarians, the way that banks like JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs have systematically set out to pillage towns and cities from Pittsburgh to Athens." [includes rush...
Apr 12, 2010 | Story
Goldman Execs Grilled over Role in Inflating Housing Bubble and Then Betting on Collapse

Executives from the bailed-out Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs faced tough questioning on Tuesday at a Senate hearing on their role in the financial crisis. Current and former Goldman officials were grilled on their aggressive marketing of mortgage investments at the same time the firm was betting the investments would fail. We play highlights and speak with investigative journalist Greg Gordon of McClatchy Newspapers and former economist at the...
Apr 28, 2010 | Story