Economy
The Plunge Protection Team
An elite group of financial sector protectors just celebrated its 20th birthday.
GOP Gags Witnesses on Credit Card Woes
Republicans on a consumer credit subcommittee required witnesses to waive privacy rights to their financial history before testifying about run-ins with credit card companies.
The End of Cheap Food?
If cheap food is a thing of the past, the result could be disastrous for fighting poverty and could bring an end to the long-term rise in U.S. living standards.
Banks in Trouble on the Rise
Add another possible problem to the economic crisis: a surge in bank failures.
The Continuous Housing Free Fall
When the mortgage crisis first hit, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were anointed to lead a major bank bailout.
Fraud Worsens Foreclosure Crisis
PART ONE
One of the country's most affluent majority black districts has a foreclosure rate nearing the worst in the country, with the rate of foreclosure fraud spiking along with it.
How Fraud Fueled the Mortgage Crisis
The question of who did most of the lying and cheating will be crucial in deciding who deserves help in any housing rescue plan.
Adoption Rules Tighten Abroad
Cultural changes, restrictions and shutdowns are changing the landscape of families produced by the "adoption revolution."
U.S. Economy Looks Like Weimar on the Brink
Twentieth-century economic history generated two great bogeymen: the Great Inflation and the Great Depression. The memory of both continues to haunt policy-makers.
PART ONE: Mortgage Crisis Triggers Walk Aways
The once reverent relationship between buyer and home is changing. Owners no longer hang on to homes above all else.
PART TWO
Can't We All Just Get Along?
Immigration, that snaggletooth of an issue that has set the Bush administration against its conservative base, is now driving a wedge between Republican leaders in the House and Senate as well. It seems that the House economic stimulus bill -- which has White House support -- does too little, in the eyes of some GOP senators, to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving benefits.
Credit Crisis Only Begins With Mortgages
The hard reality is that the economy is facing a one-two knockout blow from a collapse in consumer spending, plus a shock-and-awe wave of asset write-downs that is wreaking havoc in the financial sector.
Wall St. Still Hasn't Learned
The credit crisis was the result of banks using excessive leveraging. Lehman's decision shows Wall Street still doesn't get it.
Race and the Housing Crisis
Now that blame for the mortgage fallout is extending to lenders, it's time to take a sober look at which borrowers were targeted for high-cost loans.
Greenspan Defends His Legacy As Housing Crisis Widens
On his watch, the Fed failed to rein in abusive and predatory practices that caused millions of people to lose their homes. Now Greenspan can't stop a growing movement to put some brakes on the financial markets.
The Other Subprime Loans
A quarter of car owners are "underwater" thanks to a surge in subprime car loans.
Imploding Credit Bubble to Hit $1 Trillion
From 2002 through 2005, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan kept banks’ own borrowing rates lower than the rate of inflation – in effect, for bankers, money was free.
The Saudi Arabia of Food
Don't panic when U.S. farmers switch crops.
The New Boom Towns
With $5-per-gallon gas, will Fargo, N.D., be the next Dubai?
'Toxic Titles' Haunt Cities in Mortgage Meltdown
Investors fueled the market for risky mortgages, and now cities and neighborhoods must handle the fallout.
