FinancialCrisis

NBC's Kathie Lee Praises 'Nonpartisan' Ed Asner Film that Blames Capitalism for Financial Crisis

Mon, 16 May 2011 20:37:00 +0000

Kyle Drennen

In the 10AM ET hour on NBC's Today on Monday, co-host Kathie Lee Gifford applauded the new HBO movie on the 2008 financial crisis, 'Too Big to Fail,' as "not a partisan film at all." However, after asserting that "It didn't take one side or the other," she touted the liberal moral of the story: "that greed is what got us there and lack of regulation."

CBS Touts Report Blaming Financial Crisis on Lack of Government Regulation...Authored by Democrats

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 22:21:00 +0000

Kyle Drennen

On Wednesday's CBS Evening News, anchor Katie Couric proclaimed: "The federal commission that investigated the financial meltdown has reportedly concluded it could have been avoided. The New York Times says a report due out tomorrow finds plenty of fault to go around, including mismanagement by corporations and lax regulation by the government."

Social Security: Government 'Ponzi' Scheme Turns 75 with $41 Billion Shortfall

admin — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 21:14:00 +0000

Julia A. Seymour

This is a historic year for the largest government program: Social Security, which turns 75 in just a few days. The program is also running a deficit for the first time since 1983, and ahead of estimates.

Initially, Social Security was created to provide supplemental income to elderly and disabled people who could not work, and was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt Aug. 14, 1935.

'60 Minutes' Silent on Government Role in Financial Crisis

admin — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:17:41 +0000

Anthony Kang

“He dug into the idiocy and negligence that produced the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression,” Steve Kroft opened a segment of the March 14 CBS “60 Minutes,” featuring author Michael Lewis’ latest work – “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine.”

Verdict First, Evidence Later: Bankers Delivering Testimony on Hill the 'Lowest of Low-Lifes'

admin — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:25:00 +0000

Fair and balanced coverage from Mark Leibovich of the financial crisis hearings on Capitol Hill: "The four bankers of the apocalypse strode into the room for the Congressional equivalent of a perp walk."

Clay Waters

Verdict first, evidence later?

In a Wednesday morning post, political color reporter Mark Leibovich (who more often writes friendly tributes to Democratic pols and unflattering profiles of Republicans) convicted some prominent bankers before they even began delivering their testimony before a Capitol Hill commission charged with determining the causes of the financial debacle, "The Bankers' Lineup."

Edmund Andrews on Wall Street Crisis: 'There Really Were a Lot of Crooks Out There'

admin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:26:00 +0000

Recent Times financial reporter Edmund Andrews, who posed as a victim of the mortgage crisis in a book, claims the wanton recklessness on Wall Street that nearly wrecked the economy has exposed the limits of laissez faire thinking" and praises Rep. Barney Frank and two left-wing nonprofits.

Clay Waters

Former Times mortgage-industry reporter Edmund Andrews caused some controversy with what he left out of his 2009 book "Busted: Life Inside the Great Mortgage Meltdown,"about his own personal mortgage crisis. His book's denunciations of greedy banks left out vital information - his wife's previous two bankruptcies, making Andrews look a bit less of an innocent victim of subprime lenders.

Paul Krugman Wishes Obama Had Done More to Exploit Financial Crisis

admin — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:01:00 +0000

Columnist Paul Krugman refers to the Great Depression to call Obama's massive stimulus package "trivial stuff" in comparison, and wishes Obama had not let the financial crisis "go to waste" by totally revamping the U.S. economy.

Clay Waters

Jeff Poor of the MRC'sBusiness and Media Institute caught Times columnist Paul Krugman on the Rachel Maddow show Wednesday night, lamenting how the Obama administration let the financial crisis go to waste by not nationalizing more of the economy.

Crying Populist Concern Over Goldman Sachs' "Gilded Pay Packages"

admin — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:58:00 +0000

The Times sees populist pitchforks being sharpened as Goldman Sachs dares to make a record profit and give out bonuses: "...in Washington, some lawmakers warned on Tuesday that a quick return to such high pay would stoke public anger as the Obama administration tried to overhaul financial regulation. They warned that Wall Street lobbyists were already trying to block financial reforms."

Clay Waters

From the Damned-If-You-Do file comes Wednesday's front-page story by Graham Bowley on the big bonuses being earmarked for employees of Goldman Sachs after the financial firm had its best quarterly profit ever: "$3.4 Billion Profit at Goldman Revives Gilded Pay Packages."

Cable News Partisanship: Good on Leftist MSNBC, Not on Anti-Obama CNBC

admin — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:40:00 +0000

After celebrating MSNBC's move to the left and resulting ratings surge, the Times frets that CNBC is "making the line between reporter and commentator almost indistinguishable at times" as it criticizes Obama's spending.

Clay Waters

CNBC's now-famous on-air "tea party" rant by correspondent Rick Santelli spread over the Internet and cemented the financial network's newfound political awareness and opposition to President Obama's mortgage bailouts. A Monday business story by Brian Stelter and Tim Arango, "

Fox News Panelists Excoriate "Mortgage Bonfire" Hit Piece on Bush

admin — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:26:00 +0000

Fortune Magazine's Washington Bureau Chief Nina Easton: "I have to say I was flabbergasted when I read this story, flabbergasted....You cannot write a story about affordable housing policies and blame it on George Bush instead of the Democrats. I mean, it's just, it's outrageous."

Clay Waters

The roundtable on Monday night's Special Report with Brit Hume on FNC was not kind to the Times' hit piece on Sunday's front page, blaming President Bush and only Bush for the mortgage meltdown, ignoring the Democrats in Congresswho protected theirresponsible push for more "affordable housing" by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (as Times Watch noted yesterday).

NYT Front-Page Spread Blames Bush for "Mortgage Bonfire"

admin — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:00:00 +0000

Two Bush-hostile reporters stack virtually all the blame for the mortgage meltdown on President Bush, despite actions by Congress and the previous Clinton administration.

Clay Waters

It's official: President Bush is to blame for everything.

Former Fed Bank President Warns More Regulation Will Have Consequences

admin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:42:45 +0000

Jeff Poor

With an increased Democratic majority in Congress and a Democratic president set to be sworn in Jan. 20, policy analysts expect the government will try to steer out of the pending financial crisis through regulation.

However, William Poole, former chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and a former voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, said increased regulation would be a mistake.

Still Shielding Democrats from Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac Flak

admin — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:25:00 +0000

Defending a Democratic senator, the Times makes a clear distinction between banks "investing in risky subprime mortgages" and banks helping "middle- and low-income home buyers." But is there really such a difference?

Clay Waters

Even after the election, the Times is still shielding Democrats from any responsibility for the meltdown of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Last Thursday the Times wrote this about the Rhode Island Senate race involving Democrat Jack Reed, who easily won reelection:

Times Writer Caught Making Up Survey Results To Add Sizzle to Story

admin — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:38:00 +0000

A stern Editors' Note admits that a Times writer "distorted the survey's findings to fit his theme, contrary to The Times's standards of integrity."

Clay Waters

Paul Burnham Finney, an occasional writer for the Times, wrote up what appeared to be a quite a timely study for the October 14 "Itineraries" section of the Times. In "Upgrading the Stress Levels," Finneyrevealed that a survey from the American Psychological Association had determined that "the crisis on Wall Street was the No. 1 cause of anxiety" among business travelers.

'Evening News' Highlights Community Bank Success

admin — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:17:37 +0000

Jeff Poor

Capitalism works when parties make responsible business decisions. Just look at the First National Bank of Orwell in Orwell, Vt.