Economy Topics

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

Newest First | Oldest First

‹ Previous 1 … 6 7 8 9 10 Next ›

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
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
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
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
"Christmas Presents for Bankers"

As 2009 comes to a close, we take a look at the state of the US economy with economist Dean Baker and the Reverend Jesse Jackson. "After throwing the economy into the worst downturn since the Great Depression and bringing the whole sector to the edge of collapse, the financial industry has used its political power to succor itself back to life," Baker writes. "It is now stronger than ever." [includes rush transcript]
Dec 30, 2009 | Story
Eliot Spitzer: Geithner, Bernanke "Complicit" in Financial Crisis and Should Go

In an extended interview, we speak with former New York governor Eliot Spitzer about the financial crisis and how it was handled by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Bernanke and Geithner "actually built and participated in creating the structure that now has collapsed," Spitzer says and calls on them to be replaced. Spitzer also talks about the scandal that erupted last year that forced him...
Dec 04, 2009 | Story
"The Card Game" - New Doc Investigates History of Credit Card Industry and Proposals for Reform

We take a look at how the consumer loan industry continues to squeeze customers. Last year the Federal Reserve Board announced new rules for banks to remove unfair credit card practices, and in May of this year Congress passed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009. In a joint FRONTLINE/New York Times investigation, The Card Game, longtime investigative journalist and FRONTLINE correspondent Lowell Bergman talked...
Nov 18, 2009 | Story
As Foreclosures Hit All-Time High, Wall Street on Pace to Hand Out Record $140B in Employee Bonuses

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has topped 10,000 for the first time in a year, as JPMorgan Chase reported massive profits in the third quarter. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that major US banks and securities firms are on pace to pay their employees about $140 billion this year — a record high. But on Main Street, foreclosures are also at record levels, and the official unemployment rate is expected to top ten percent....
Oct 15, 2009 | Story