The president’s tone was strong—but he left some important things out, Jeff Madrick argues.
Jeff Madrick is a contributor to the New York Review of Books and a former economics columnist for the New York Times. He is editor of Challenge Magazine, visiting professor of humanities at Cooper Union, and senior fellow at the New School's Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis. He is the author of Taking America, The End of Affluence (Random House) and The Case for Big Government.
Tim Geithner hotly defended his job Thursday in front of angry Republican congressmen who asked him to step down. "What I can't take responsibility is for the legacy of crises you've bequeathed this country," he shot back.
Chris Dodd's proposal to reregulate Wall Street puts Obama’s efforts to shame—but it doesn't go far enough, says Jeff Madrick. Still, the fight brewing over the senator's plan will at least force Washington to face the reality of the banking mess.
The U.S. can’t rely on the proposed House bill to protect the economy from another crash. Relying on regulators won’t work, says Jeff Madrick—instead, the government should start by dividing banking activities.
They fled Pittsburgh with vague promises to rein in their financial systems. But Jeff Madrick writes that the G-20 leaders didn't give this year of global peril its due respect.
Nominating Ben Bernanke to a second term as Fed chairman may have been politically expedient for Obama, but it will leave Larry Summers seriously disappointed. Jeff Madrick on the ruffled feathers and future fiscal course.
This week, the Fed chairman unnecessarily raised fears with public statements about future deficits—but the real risk is that he’ll back up his anti-spending ideology with actions.
Today's all-day conference taking a "second look" shows the power of the right in even getting such a question on the table. But claims that the New Deal failed are dead wrong.
Ignore the Republican talk about Obama killing the economy. The president’s only major mistake is his bank bailout, a dud of serious proportions.
At the annual meeting of American Economists, most everyone refused to admit their failures to prepare or warn about the second worst crisis of the century.