The Town Halls of August, They're here, they're conservative, get used to it.

Sep 07, 2009 - The Town Halls of August They're here, they're conservative, get used to it. by Mary Katharine Ham It had been a rough month by the time 67-year-old Bert Stead of Redding, Calif., stepped to the microphone at an August 18 town hall meeting with Republican representative Wally Herger. It was about to get rougher. - 1 Comment

Rahm Emanuel's profitable stint at mortgage giant

Mar 26, 2009 - PUBLIC POST * Rahm Emanuel's profitable stint at mortgage giant Short Freddie Mac stay made him at least $320,000 By Bob Secter and Andrew Zajac | Tribune reporters 3:18 PM CDT, March 26, 2009 Before its portfolio of bad loans helped trigger the current housing crisis, mortgage giant Freddie Mac was the focus of a major accounting scandal that led to a management shake-up, huge fines and scalding condemnation of passive directors by a top federal regulator. One of those allegedly asleep-at-the-switch board members was Chicago's Rahm Emanuel—now chief of staff to President Barack Obama—who made at least $320,000 for a 14-month stint at Freddie Mac that required little effort. As gatekeeper to Obama, Emanuel now plays a critical role in addressing the nation's mortgage woes and fulfilling the administration's pledge to impose responsibility on the financial world. - 1 Comment

Seeing Red: America’s debt is Barack Obama’s biggest weakness

Jun 16, 2009 - “PAYING for what you spend is basic common sense. Perhaps that’s why, here in Washington, it’s been so elusive,” said Barack Obama on June 9th. He was urging Congress to pass a new “pay-as-you-go” (PAYGO) plan that would oblige it to pay for new spending either by raising taxes or by cutting outlays. - 6 Comments

Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn On the Lights?

Oct 29, 2008 - Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn On the Lights? By Orson Scott Card Editor's note: Orson Scott Card is a Democrat and a newspaper columnist, and in this opinion piece he takes on both while lamenting the current state of journalism. "I remember reading All the President's Men and thinking: That's journalism. - 35 Comments

Obama’s Broken Promises Were Entirely Predictable

Feb 15, 2009 - Obama’s Broken Promises Were Entirely Predictable February 14, 2009 - by Nicholas Guariglia (Pajamas Media) Nicholas Guariglia is a polemic and essayist who writes on Islam and Middle Eastern geopolitics. He is a graduate of the John C. Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University, where he studied U.S. - 5 Comments

The Geithner Paradox: Unregulated Institutions Bailing Out Regulated Ones

Mar 25, 2009 - The Geithner Paradox: Unregulated Institutions Bailing Out Regulated Ones By Michael Barone, US News and World reprrt I haven't commented on Timothy Geithner's plan, the one promised for February 10 and delivered on March 23, to clear out the toxic waste assets from the banks and other financial institutions that hold them. I hope it works, and I fear that it won't. But this isn't my area of expertise and I'm not confident enough to make any predictions. - 3 Comments

Re-emerging As an Emerging Market (A MUST READ POST)

Mar 27, 2009 - Re-emerging As an Emerging Market By Desmond Lachman (Washington Post) Back in the spring of 1998, when Boris Yeltsin was still at Russia's helm, I led a group of global investors to Moscow to find out firsthand where the Russian economy was headed. My long career with the International Monetary Fund and on Wall Street had taken me to "emerging markets" throughout Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America, and I thought I'd seen it all. Yet I still recall the shock I felt at a meeting in Russia's dingy Ministry of Finance, where I finally realized how a handful of young oligarchs were bringing Russia's economy to ruin in the pursuit of their own selfish interests, despite the supposed brilliance of Anatoly Chubais, Russia's economic czar at the time. - 6 Comments

Bill Ayers Finally Speaks for Himself

Nov 04, 2008 - November 4, 2008 New Yorker Early this morning, the Obama family voted at the Beulah Shoesmith Elementary School, in Hyde Park. Long after they had gone, the lawn in front of the school was filled with reporters, mostly Europeans, filming voters. While I was talking to an eight-year-old kid dressed as George Washington, my colleague Peter Slevin, of the Washington Post was across the street, knocking on the door of someone else who had voted at the Shoesmith School this morning: William Ayers. - 7 Comments