Blog Feed: Common Sense Rants

The Great Recession: Glass-Steagall Revisited

Published on 2009-12-18 02:44:00

Senators John McCain (Republican; AZ) and Maria Cantwell (Democrat; WA) introduced a bipartisan bill on December 16, 2009 that would reinstate some of the banking safeguards that were eroded when the Glass-Steagall Act was repealed in 1999* (more).Pr > read more

The Great Recession: Goldman Sachs Backs Down (sort of)

Published on 2009-12-18 01:16:00

Goldman Sachs, one of the two remaining major investment banks in the country and a major architect in causing the recent collapse of the American economy*, was planning on rewarding its top executives and traders with a total of $17 - $20 Billion in > read more

The Great Recession: Europe Taxes the Bonus Windfall

Published on 2009-12-18 01:08:00

The British government, which like the United States propped-up failing banks with taxpayer funds, announced on December 9 that it would levy a one-time 50% tax on any banker bonus that exceeded approximately $ 41,000 (article). The move was designed > read more

The Great Recession: Goldman Sachs Gets Armed !

Published on 2009-12-18 00:59:00

It’s almost humorous (if there can be any humor in this economic disaster). It has been reported (article) that senior executives at the investment banking firm, Goldman Sachs, have been buying firearms, and applying for concealed weapons permits, > read more

The Great Recession: Bankers in Piggie Heaven

Published on 2009-12-15 01:03:00

Banker Piggies Feeding at the TroughThat would be Ken Lewis (Bank of America) on the right, Vikram Pandit (CitiGroup) on the left,and the biggest piggie of all, Jamie Dimon (JPMorgan Chase) in the center.Gorging themselves on a piggie-feast of obscen > read more

The Great Recession: The Recession is Over ?

Published on 2009-12-09 00:48:00

Economists have pronounced the national recession over as of August 2009. But don’t start celebrating just yet.The recession may technically be over, but don’t expect any substantive improvements to occur anytime soon. The economic growth that wa > read more

The Great Recession: Still More on "Too Big to Fail; Too Big to Exist"

Published on 2009-12-08 23:59:00

[original posting on subject, "Too Big to Fail; Too Big to Exist Act of 2009"] [also see: "More on Too Big To Fail; Too Big to Exist"]Still don’t think Bernie Sanders’ (U.S. Senator, Vermont) proposed "Too Big to Fail; Too Big to Exist Act of 200 > read more

The Great Recession: Thanksgiving 2009

Published on 2009-12-01 13:25:00

Well, Thanksgiving 2009 has come and gone. For tens of millions of Americans this year, there probably wasn’t a whole lot to be thankful for. And the Christmas holiday season is probably looking pretty grim for them too.Somewhere between 15 and 20 > read more

The Great Recession: It Didn't "Just Happen"

Published on 2009-11-24 20:36:00

No, contrary to what the bankers might want you to believe, the "Great Recession of 2008 / 2009" didn’t just happen. It was not something that resulted from normal and unavoidable economic conditions. The Great Recession was in fact engineered by t > read more

The Great Recession: More on "Too Big to Fail; Too Big Too Exist"

Published on 2009-11-24 14:17:00

[original posting on subject, "Too Big to Fail; Too Big to Exist Act of 2009"] [also see, "Still More on Too Big to Fail; Too Big to Exist"]I’ve heard more than a few people comment that the notion of the federal government dismantling private fina > read more