Archives

Meltdown Anniversary Watch

Posted Monday, August 31, 2009 - 10:53am

We here at The Big Money are expecting an onslaught of coverage of the one-year anniversary of the economic meltdown, loosely pegged to Sept. 15 (which also happened to be the day that we launched). So we're going to start tracking the memes in an occasional series called "Meltdown Anniversary Watch."

  • James Ledbetter is editor of The Big Money, and of The Great Depression: A Diary, published this month by Public Affairs.

Word of the Week

Posted Friday, August 28, 2009 - 2:20pm

Massachusetts' chief financial regulator has demanded that Goldman Sachs (GS) hand over information about the firm's so-called "trading huddles" to figure out whether there's something fishy going on at the Wall Street bank. But what's a "trading huddle," anyway? It's the term used to describe weekly get-togethers between Goldman research analysts and traders.

  • Caitlin McDevitt is an editorial assistant at The Big Money.

All Michael Moore Wanna Do Is Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom


Posted Friday, August 21, 2009 - 12:06pm
Photographic still of Michael Moore courtesy of Ovature Films.

Michael Moore, that great American gadfly, is getting ready to make the country even angrier than it is already. He released the trailer to his new movie today, and it already shows the usual Moore tics: surprise ambushes of the rich and powerful, honest interviews with unexpected sources, and a mockery of the eminently mockable President Bush. This time Moore is skewering the bank bailouts of 2008. The M.I.A.-soundtracked trailer for Capitalism: A Love Story is embedded below:

Photographic still of Michael Moore courtesy of Ovature Films.

What's Your Question For Barry Ritholtz?

Posted Friday, August 14, 2009 - 11:15am

Later this month, The Big Money Editor James Ledbetter will conduct an exclusive one-on-one interview with Barry Ritholtz, one of America's best-known financial bloggers. In addition to his often fiery posts on The Big Picture, Ritholtz is the author of Bailout Nation, a tough look at the origins of the financial crisis.

NASDAQ Cracks Down on Flash Trading


Posted Thursday, August 6, 2009 - 3:21pm

Well, that was fast: Less than two weeks after Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, threatened to legislate away flash trading unless the SEC did something about it, and two days after Schumer's camp called a ban on the practice "imminent," some of the market's biggest players in the flash-trading arena have embraced a "You can't fire me; I quit!" course of action.

  • Martha C. White is a freelance writer in New York.

Why Rupert Murdoch Can't Make Up His Mind


Posted Thursday, August 6, 2009 - 9:53am

One of the benefits of old age is that if you stick around long enough, sooner or later you are bound to say something that proves to be right. Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of News Corp (NWS), is a master at this technique, which he augments by contradicting himself, thereby increasing the chances that something will stick.

  • James Ledbetter is editor of The Big Money, and of The Great Depression: A Diary, published this month by Public Affairs.

Is This Oil Piracy On The High Seas?


Posted Monday, August 3, 2009 - 3:54pm

I am having second thoughts. For a while now, I've believed that the spikes in oil prices of the last years have not been the result of market manipulation by speculators. For one thing, the sheer size of the world oil market means that it's impossible to "corner." For another, I've been skeptical of the arguments of those who believe that the spikes and falls are just too big top be accounted for by fairly small changes in supply and demand.

Wonk Watch Takes a Hiatus


Posted Monday, August 3, 2009 - 3:39pm

The TBM office is mourning the loss of our trusted interns for many reasons, not the least of which is their dogged devotion to this daily feature. Amy Tennery and Gabriel Beltrone have moved on to full-time jobs elsewhere in the media world, and for that we're happy. But it means Wonk Watch will lay dormant until we can figure out who will keep its flame burning. Until next time, WW diehards.

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