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If left-labor-liberal progressives had the cohesion and muscle of their right-wing opposites, they would be articulating a simple-to-understand litmus test for the Democratic Party--no 'Enron Democrats' on the presidential ticket [...]

An awakened sense of outrage has reporters and members of Congress playing a fierce game of hounds and hares with Enron executives and other bandits, which is most fortunate for [...]

Jon Corzine, the freshman senator from New Jersey, is uniquely positioned to deal with the swirling scandals of Enron and other related malpractices in high finance. He was a Wall [...]

The 'giant sucking sound' Ross Perot used to talk about is back, only this time it is not Mexico sucking away American jobs. It is China sucking away Mexico's jobs. [...]

The rise and fall of Enron is an instant classic in the annals of capitalism because, in one calamitous stroke, it wipes out so many sanctified illusions that rule in [...]

No one will mistake the WTO agreement in Doha, launching a new round of global trade negotiations, as a victory for the people. The usual cast of characters, led by [...]

A recent New York Times headline asked an insinuating question: 'After the Attacks, Which Side Is the Left On?' The Times should find the nerve to put the same question [...]

At a time when the economy needs vast and purposeful help from the federal government, America faces a peculiar handicap: Neither political party really believes in liberal economic intervention or [...]

Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the former senator, has a careerlong history of promoting bold new ideas for government, helping turn them into public policy and then explaining a few years later, [...]

For years, environmental advocates in and out of government have labored to construct a connecting arch between opposing interests that could lead to the first real legislative action on global [...]

Paul O'Neill was supposed to be the 'grownup' in the Bush Cabinet, the guy with government savvy from many years in Washington and the industrial-strength smarts of a successful CEO. [...]

When Bush broke his campaign promise to get tough on carbon, he torpedoed years of work by environmentalists--and utilities. But he may have kick-started something even bigger. The first few [...]

Is it in bad taste to talk about the death of Strom Thurmond before he has actually died? Probably, but hey, everyone in the Washington power corridors seems to be [...]

New York's City Council is about to open a promising new front in the global struggle against sweatshop exploitation--a city procurement ordinance that requires decent wages and factory conditions for [...]

When NAFTA was adopted in 1993, Chapter 11 in the trade and investment agreement was too obscure to stir controversy. Eight years later, it's the smoking gun in the intensifying [...]

Twenty years ago this season, when another new Republican President arrived in Washington to push for massive income-tax reductions, I was having breakfast every other Saturday morning with David Stockman, [...]

A new season of trade politics is under way among Washington insiders, with an astonishing twist: America's major multinational corporations are love-bombing labor and environmentalists. Leading business interests, it turns [...]

The power play was swift, effective and ugly. Within hours of Albert Gore's concession, Bill Clinton was moving the levers of insider politics to install his personal money guy, Terry [...]

Let the wild rumpus continue. Let citizens fill the public square with their dismay and rage. May the angry voters demand deeper explanations for the unrepresentative political system, beyond the [...]

If politics got real...the debate over costly prescription drugs would turn to more fundamental solutions like breaking up the pharmaceutical industry's patent monopolies, which generate soaring drug prices, and rewarding [...]

The old politics of oil has resurfaced to add a nervous flutter to Election 2000 and also to revive an enduring question of modern industrial life--what is the right price [...]

A tide of corporate high-mindedness seems to be sweeping the globe, inspired by last year's ruckus in Seattle and a continuing series of confrontations. One international organization after another has [...]

Paying off the national debt used to be an obsession of Calvinist fundamentalists on the fringes of the Republican Party, but this year it is the boldest banner held aloft [...]

The economics of George W. Bush may be broadly described as lukewarm Reaganomics, but his plans for regressive tax cutting and more dismantling of the public sphere are airbrushed with [...]

On the final day of the Seattle demonstrations this past December, Peter Jennings of ABC's World News Tonight introduced the story with a sly aside: 'The thousands of demonstrators will [...]

This is one of a series of commentaries about presidential politics that will appear between now and the November elections. --The Editors The Ralph Nader running for President this year [...]

The politics of trade will always contrive to decide the most fateful questions in private while leaving public debate to chew over narrow, derivative issues. Thus, by design, the China [...]

The bloated triumphalism of America's global elites cries out for edgy satire--the literary hammer of Sinclair Lewis, the dark wit of Joseph Heller. Babbitt, it turns out, is now employed [...]

On the morning after, people awoke to the drear prospect of 'gush and bore' for the next six months, and excitement flew out the window. No reason to despair-we can [...]

WHAT IS THE POINT OF TRADE? by Anita Roddick Anita Roddick founded The Body Shop (www.the-body-shop.org), which is now a places-based business with 1,700 stores in forty-eight countries, trading in [...]

Seattle changed many things, and one of them is American labor. Nothing lifts the spirit or one's vision like winning. Rank-and-file members returned home exhilarated by their victory, and so [...]

Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution. By Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins. Little, Brown. 396 pp. $26.95. Natural Capitalism is so informative and provocative-and so unfashionably optimistic [...]

As he travels around the country, musing aloud on his hopes for the future, Bill Clinton inspires an unintended melancholy about his presidency. He has big dreams for the country, [...]

The Industrial Areas Foundation's network of community organizations has grown explosively during the nineties, from twenty-five to sixty- two cities and rural areas, but the IAF, a church-anchored organization that [...]

After the WTO Protest in Seattle, It's Time to Go on the Offensive. Here's How. The promise of Seattle was captured in an antic moment observed by one young environmental [...]

The giddy adoration of Alan Greenspan has come to resemble the stock market bubble itself and, when one phenomenon comes to its end, so will the other. Like day traders [...]

A little broken glass in the streets of Seattle has transformed the World Trade Organization into a popular icon for the unregulated globalization that tramples human values on every continent, [...]

The article reports on the decision by economist Larry Summers to remove himself from consideration for chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board, focusing on the opposition of progressive Democrats to his candidacy. U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown, Elizabeth Warren, and Jeff Merkley of the Senate Banking Committee indicated their intention to vote against Summers. It is argued that the nomination of Federal Reserve official Janet Yellin would improve President Barack Obama's economic policy.

The author argues about the potential risks involved in multinational banking corporation JPMorgan Chase's derivatives trading and the implications this practice has for U.S. taxpayers. Topics include how JPMorgan's deposit base is reimbursed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), JPMorgan's controversial trades which resulted in losses of $3 billion, and the total contract values of other FDIC-insured banks.

The article discusses New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and his efforts to investigate potential fraud and mismanagement at several major U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America, which is believed to be a root cause of the global economic crisis. Details related to U.S. property law, illegal lending practices related to mortgages and the resulting home foreclosures, and the impact of bank fraud on the U.S. economy are explored. Additionally, the article overviews Schneiderman's collaboration with fellow state attorney generals in this endeavor and the author provides on an approach to a financial settlement which could benefit both debtors and creditors in the U.S.

In this article the author comments on efforts to reform the banking and financial services industry undertaken by U.S. president Barack Obama. The author is of the opinion that the measures enacted by the U.S. congress do not amount to reform and imposed little financial change. Examined are a number of provisions of the legislation including the formation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, the weakening of stronger regulation of derivative securities, and the fact that U.S. tax payers are still liable for bank bailouts.

The author focuses on the efforts of investment banker Pete Peterson, Senior Chairman of the Blackstone Group, to reform the U.S. Social Security system. The author mentions that Peterson has formed a news service to publish dispatches about the reform ideas. The article argues that Peterson's reforms would loot Social Security under the guise of fiscal responsibility.

The article discusses efforts to reform the banking and financial services industry in the United States. At issue is the control of derivatives, financial instruments that are used by corporations and banks to decrease risk or avoid capital requirements. The author asserts that Democratic Party members of congress are the major obstacles to economic reform.

In this article the author comments on the U.S. government budget deficit accumulated in order to stimulate the national economy following the global financial crisis of 2008-09. The central focus of the article is the author's contention that government spending is needed to return the U.S. to prosperity. The article is critical of those who advocate for less government spending.

In this article the author comments on the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, the body created to investigate the roots of the 2008-2009 economic collapse in the United States. The central focus of the article is the author's contention that effective financial reform measures from the U.S. congress can only be achieved if the commission discovers the cause of the crisis in U.S. financial and governmental institutions.

The author of the article questions who caused the U.S. financial crisis and the U.S. stock market crash, and the need for a thorough investigation of the crisis before reforms can rebuild the U.S. financial system. The author emphasizes that economic policy makers like Phil Gramm and Lawrence H. Summers should not conduct the investigation. The article discusses the U.S. Pecora hearings, named for Ferdinand Pecora, and how U.S. politicians from both parties helped remove financial regulations.

This article discusses the potential impact of the U.S. federal government's decisions to bailout financial companies and banks. The author claims that such bailouts could create a bigger problem for producers and consumers, may lead to a a powerful corporate state, and may not even succeed in rescuing the financial industry.

The article reports on United States Senator Hillary Clinton's candidacy in the 2008 presidential election. The author suggests that some of Clinton's assets, such as the support of her husband, former U.S. president Bill Clinton, as well as other influential connections may work against her. Hillary Clinton is compared to Lurleen Wallace, wife of politician George Wallace.