Month: June 2009

One hundred and fifty years jail time for Bernard Madoff is a good thing. To listen to the victims of his swindle, or read their words, is to appreciate the very far-reaching ways in which Madoff’s quiet crime has wreaked havoc on the lives of thousands of families. Federal District Judge Denny Chin was absolutely…

There are major gaps and shortcomings in the Obama administration’s financial regulatory proposals, formally released today, and the proposals alone leave the financial sector vulnerable to future crisis. Still, it’s nice to be able to say that the proposal does contain meaningful reforms. Whether those meaningful reform proposals become law is no sure thing, and…

The Obama administration’s budgetary Machiavellianism has backfired. Seeking to avoid a direct up-or-down vote on a proposal to send $108 billion to the International Monetary Fund, the administration, at the last moment, had the money stuck into a supplemental appropriations bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That maneuver turned out to be…