No American writer does a better job cataloguing, describing, and decrying the sins of big banks than Matt Taibbi. His recent exposition of U.S. authorities’ investigation of London-based ICAP for manipulation of information accompanying interest rate swaps is another in his corpus of descriptions of schemers and plotters playing with ...

We are often told, and we tend to internalize, the idea that scarcity is a natural condition of humankind, and the planet. While it is true that natural resources are finite, the specter of scarcity has recently been extended, in many nations’ grand narratives, to include finance. We are told ...

I try to ignore celebrities, or the "celebrity" of celebrities . . . that is to say, I try to see through their status into their personalities. But I'm terribly sad this week. I've been a Michelle Shocked fan since the late 1980s and consider "Arkansas Traveler" and "Short Sharp Shocked" ...

Icelandic MP Birgitta Jónsdóttir and Rolling Stone financial author Matt Taibbi will both be speaking at the second annual Public Banking Conference, "PBA2013: Funding the New Economy," taking place in San Rafael, California on June 2-4, 2013. Jónsdóttir Jónsdóttir, a member of Althing (the Icelandic Parliament) since 2009, is well-known as an activist ...

Why public entities should not put money into private banks Inspired by the anti-apartheid divestment movement of the 1980s, climate change activist groups spearheaded by 350.org are agitating for colleges, universities, and municipalities to refrain from investing in fossil fuel companies and develop new pension and other portfolios that keep public ...

Cindy Sheehan is brave and determined. She's stood up to George W. Bush, gotten arrested, and done her best to keep the anti-war community alive during the Obama years. All of those things turned out to be easier than working with Roseanne Barr. Barr, the multimillion dollar celebrity who bought the Peace ...

Most Americans want a fair economy, not one that stacks the deck for people who already enjoy a stacked deck. But both major parties accept the inevitability of corporate-centered capitalism, a system which cannot be reformed and will destroy the planet. Over 70 percent of the public supported a publicly-run health ...

Muhammad Sahimi is Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, and holds the NIOC Chair in petroleum engineering at the University of Southern California. He is also lead political columnist for the website PBS/Frontline/Tehran Bureau. His recent piece, "Intervention Proponents Try to Scuttle Nuclear Talks with Iran," takes media figures ...

Although the circumstances that occasioned it were troubling, it was an honor to finally get to speak with Henry A, Giroux, who currently holds the Global TV Network Chair Professorship at McMaster University in the English and Cultural Studies Department. A prolific author on the intersections of capitalism and education, ...

Terrible news from Bulgaria, as "An explosion on bus carrying Israeli tourists at the airport of the Black Sea city of Burgas killed up to seven people" today.  An Israeli witness told Army Radio he believed the attack was caused by a suicide bomber. Haaretz reported that an Israeli who witnessed ...