by Bill Fletcher, Jr., It is one thing to notice that a house under construction has been abandoned by the contractor who was to be building it.  That happened in my neighborhood (and actually many other neighborhoods) more than a year ago, making it very clear that something was going wrong in the economy.  It is [...]

by Edward S. Herman June 2009 In a system where corporations are central in economic activity, economic crises have always and necessarily produced plans and programs of renovation and improvement designed to make corporations more responsive to the public interest. Of course, there have always been some who urged nationalization or worker control; i.e., the replacement of [...]

by Zach Carter June 13, 2009 Local banks can change the world, one neighborly investment at a time. William Spademan is a radical banker. In an era when Wall Street executives frequent talk shows to defend lavish bonuses “earned” through reckless speculation, Spademan has been working to create a new kind of bank that would empower communities instead [...]

By John Terrett in New York May 31, 2009 Through a series of special reports, Al Jazeera explores how the global recession is affecting the use of microfinance in both developing and developed economies.

by Ralph Nader May 28, 2009 Once upon a time early in the 19th century, corporations came into existence by state legislatures approving charters, which were granted for a limited period of time and for limited purposes. These corporations – producing textiles and other products in New England – raised capital in part because their investors had [...]

Time for a Tax and Mortgage Strike By Ted Rall May 21, 2009 NEW YORK–The calamari salad was world-class. Still, my friend the CPA’s face screwed up. “You know what still has me pissed off? The bailouts. All wasted on CEO bonuses. But nobody cares!” I told him I thought people cared, but they didn’t know what they could [...]

“They Frankly Own the Place” Versión similar en español abajo By Matt Renner May 8, 2009 “And the banks – hard to believe in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created – are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.” – Illinois Sen. Richard [...]

May 12, 2009 The Nation‘s Naomi Klein and William Greider returned to Charlie Rose on Monday, May 11th. The award winning journalists discussed the financial crisis and economic bailout. On the bailout, Greider remarks in the interview, “The moral question is, do we try to fill the balance sheets of those institutions that led this public [...]

By  Lagan Sebert May 11, 2009 Criminal fraud may be the most underreported aspect of our current financial crisis. In this “Road to Ruin” report, former subprime lenders from Ameriquest, once the country’s largest lender, describe a system rife with fraud. They describe how a “by-any-means-necessary” policy pushed employees to cut corners and falsify documents on bad [...]