http://www.inthesetimes.com/archives/tags/wall+street/ In These Times features award-winning investigative reporting about corporate malfeasance and government wrongdoing, insightful analysis of national and international affairs, and sharp cultural criticism about events and ideas that matter. en-us Expression Engine jessica@inthesetimes.com seamus@inthesetimes.com Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3932/the_700_billion_questions/ If a museum in the next superpower nation ever commemorates the decline of the last great superpower, it will make the two-and-a-half page bill introduced this week the center of the display. Just as they do today at the National Archives' Declaration of Independence exhibit, tourists in the future--perhaps in Beijing, perhaps somewhere else--will line up to see a framed draft of this week's White House legislation demanding Congress surrender its power of the purse, and give an unelected appointee--in this case, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson--the power to hand over $700 billion of taxpayer money to "any financial institution," "without limitation...on such terms and conditions as determined by [him]." In a nation priding itself on separating powers between the branches… Wall Street housing crisis Grace Lee Boggs Wed, 01 Oct 2008 06:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3948/turning_a_wall_street_giveaway_into_a_rescue_for_all_americans/ [Editor's note: The following article provides a summary of the complex issues involved in negotiations over how to respond to the credit market crisis. For the sake of simplicity and navigability, it is broken into five separate parts, which you can scroll to individually: 1) The State of Play 2) Leadership Moves 3) Alternatives 4) Likely Outcomes and 5) The Progressive Bottom Line.] Following the astounding rejection of Henry Paulson's speculator bailout plan in the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday, a wave of doomsday propaganda from Washington, both presidential candidates and the media has flooded the airwaves -- all aimed at trying to force public opinion to support handing over $700 billion to Wall Street, no strings attached. But… Wall Street financial crisis bailout plan Grace Lee Boggs Fri, 03 Oct 2008 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3951/saying_no_deal_to_this_new_deal/ The marriage of American capitalism and democracy has always been a Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee affair -- stormy and erratic since its hasty wedding. But during the debate over a Wall Street bailout this week, we watched that matrimonial knot unwind into a tangled tale of terror. As a financial crisis became a political panic, capitalism murdered democracy (ironically, while pursuing a vaguely socialist bailout). Only, unlike a typical horror story, the dead body wasn't hidden, it was dumped in the nation's public square. The fiasco started, like most, with unreasonable demands. Under threat of financial meltdown, capitalism's corporate lobbyists asked our democracy to forsake its usual deliberations and hand over $700 billion of taxpayer money in less than… capitalism financial crisis Wall Street Grace Lee Boggs