Business Coverage

There has been an unreality in the reports on the falling stock markets for at least the past 10 days. Each day's plunge seems to have been exclusively due to the "global economic crisis" and/or the supposed "freeze on credit." Oddly enough, the admittedly small bank where I have my business accounts is having absolutely no problem funding mortgage, home-equity, and other loan applications from…

Was the current economic situation caused by too little government intervention in the financial markets—or too much?   I'd say the latter.  Washington used Fannie/Freddie as a political piggy bank, causing it dole out loans to people who had no business receiving them.  And because Freddie and Fannie's obligations enjoyed the implicit guarantee of the federal government, they were able to obtain…

Who you gonna call to fix the economy? Kids. The Dow dropped 5,585 points since its high a year ago, banks have been afraid to lend and the government bought billions in toxic mortgage-backed securities. So CBS's "The Early Show" went to some top finance experts to explain what was happening to viewers, right? Nope, they went to kids, Oct. 10. Weatherman Dave Price talked to fifth graders…

It's sad when just about the only place to get the truth about what happened to precipitate the current mortgage-lending mess is the Colbert Report. Jim Cramer of CNBC's "Mad Money" appeared on the Comedy Central show on Monday. The takeaway soundbites: Cramer said "I'd love to, but I can't" pin the blame for the debacles at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on President Bush. He noted that "the…

Labor costs the Detroit Three substantially more per vehicle than it does the Japanese. Health care is the biggest chunk. GM, for instance spends $1,635 per vehicle on health care for active and retired workers in the U.S. Toyota pays nothing for retired workers - it has very few - and only $215 for active ones . . . Contract issues like work rules, line relief and holiday pay amount to $630 per…

The Securities and Exchange Commission ended the 16-day ban on short selling Oct. 9, which has left many journalists asking if the ban actually worked to keep more banks from failing. The staff at the Business & Media Institute's video blog, "The Biz Flog," could have told you the ban wasn't a good idea when they put together "Who's Afraid of a Big Bad Short Seller?" But, it's nice to see…

The Dow may be tanking and we could be heading into a global recession in the near future, but there's a green lining to it all, according to Reuters. Mother Earth might get a breather from those dastardly carbon emissions, what with shuttered factories and all.Here's how the financial news wire teased a story on the afternoon of October 7, a day after the Dow closed below 10,000 for the first…

There's a theory floating around the right side of the blogosphere that NBC removed a "Saturday Night Live" skit from the Internet because the network had second thoughts about making fun of liberals or caught too much heat for doing so.But a new theory has surfaced in the mainstream media. Advertising Age is reporting that the skit may have been pulled for apolitical reasons. "A good guess: The…

You would think what donors are cozy with which campaigns - especially in the midst of a presidential election cycle - might be a relevant story for the media,  especially at a time when everyone is quick to point fingers at which political party is to blame for financial turmoil. When Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld testified before the House Oversight Committee Oct. 6, the media criticized…

It's the kind of socialist attitude that would make Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez proud. Unfortunately, it's coming from a New York Times columnist making recommendations for the U.S. financial system. Times' columnist Paul Krugman appeared on MSNBC's Oct. 6 "Rachel Maddow Show" and made the prediction that the federal government would have to take over the American financial system after…

Old Media's coverage of the recently-lifted executive and congressional bans on offshore exploration and drilling for oil and natural gas largely overlooked an important element that should have been very relevant to the discussion. Supporters of lifting the bans surely share much of the blame for only rarely citing it. Though they have frequently noted the hundreds of billions of dollars a years…

So what "dangerous" product should you not give your children now? Cough syrup, if you were watching the October 3 "Early Show." "They're safe if they're used properly, but so often they're not and so I consider them to be dangerous," said Dr. Alanna Levine, a pediatrician based in Englewood Hospital in New York. The CBS segment focused on new regulations of over-the-counter cough and cold…

As I write this on Monday afternoon, the People's House has rejected "the $700 billion bailout." You won't believe, unless you're a very experienced cynic, where that $700 billion figure came from. The answer appears to be "out of nowhere." With no basis. I'm not kidding. Here's the evidence, carried six whole days ago at Forbes (HT LAT's Top of the Ticket Blog via BizzyBlog commenter Dan Scott…