“Too Crooked to Fail”: Matt Taibbi Says Bailouts, Fraud are the Secrets to Bank of America’s Success

In his new article, “Bank of America: Too Crooked to Fail,” Rolling Stone reporter Matt Taibbi chronicles the remarkable history of the rise of Bank of America — an institution he says has defrauded “everyone from investors and insurers to homeowners and the unemployed.” Taibbi describes how the Bush and Obama administrations have repeatedly propped up the financial institution, which received a $45 billion taxpayer bailout in 2008. Bank of America has also received billions in what could be described as shadow bailouts. The bank now owns more than 12 percent of the nation’s bank deposits and 17 percent of all home mortgages. Taibbi also recounts how fraudulent practices by Bank of America and other companies ravaged pension funds. “Most people think of [the mortgage crisis] as some airy abstraction — you know, bankers ripping off bankers,” Taibbi says. “That’s not what it is. It’s bankers stealing from old ladies and retirees.”

via “Too Crooked to Fail”: Matt Taibbi Says Bailouts, Fraud are the Secrets to Bank of America’s Success.

The worst-paying cities for women

While it’s been nearly a century since women across the country won the right to vote and the right to work alongside men, equal pay continues to remain a distant goal.

via Bottom Line – The worst-paying cities for women.

Is decoupling real? « Consider the Evidence

Since the 1970s, income growth for middle-class American households has become decoupled from growth of the economy.

via Is decoupling real? « Consider the Evidence.

Oil Prices Are Determined in the World Market

U.S. oil production is around 9 percent of world production. Even very large increases in U.S. production would have only a minimal effect on world oil prices, and therefore a minimal effect on the price of gas in the United States.

via Oil Prices ARE Determined in the World Market #3456: It is Not Just Something that President Obama Says | Beat the Press.

Economist Magazine Runs Fact-Challenged Frontal Assault on Regulation

A respected magazines panders to corporations and runs an ideological attack on one of the most critical aspects of a functioning economy.

via Economist Magazine Runs Fact-Challenged Frontal Assault on Regulation | | AlterNet.

Paychecks for young adults getting slimmer

Wages for young workers have been declining for more than a decade. They fell off a cliff during the Great Recession to levels not seen since the 1970s for certain groups of entry-level workers, according to new data from center-left think tank the Economic Policy Institute.

via Life Inc. – Paychecks for young adults getting slimmer.

The 7 Biggest Economic Lies Today

Occupiers on Wall Street and elsewhere can’t become a national movement for a more equitable society – unless more Americans know the truth about the economy.

via Robert Reich (THE SEVEN BIGGEST ECONOMIC LIES The President’s…).

Bye Bye American Pie: The Challenge of the Productivity Revolution

So while the productivity revolution is indubitably good, the task ahead is to figure out how to distribute more of its gains to more of our people.

via Robert Reich Bye Bye American Pie: The Challenge of the Productivity Revolution.