A Financial System Built to Fail: 2008 vs 2012

Remember the financial crisis? Remember September 2008? Remember Hank Paulson, Tim Geithner and Ben Bernanke? Remember George W. Bush and Nancy Pelosi? Remember how they all told us that this was a once in a lifetime event – a once-in-a-century calamity – and that after the crisis' immediate dangers were addressed, the underlying causes would be tackled – immediately? It's been more than three...

In America and Europe, Crime has been Decriminalized

Eurozone leaders are meeting, again…After talking about the eurozone crisis in Davos, they've moved to Brussels for an EU summit to…talk about it some more…blah blah blah. A lot of talk. When are we going to get something legitimate? Meanwhile, governments and banks are still in bed together – tangled up in their illicit love affair three years after the financial crisis began. We know the drill...

Capital Account -- 1/27/12

Well, it is day 3 of Davos, and that means more snow stories from that princely hamlet atop the Swiss mountain tops. Lauren Lyster, who has been reporting from Davos all week, is there to fill us in at the top of the show. Demetri starts the program by asking Lauren if the conference still has that "convention" atmosphere, where people are less worried about what's on the agenda, and more what's...

Capital Account -- 1/26/12

Well, it is day 2 of Davos, and the eurozone crisis remains a main focus. George Soros was recently out with an editorial advocating for more Europe as the solution, while David Cameron, also in attendance at Davos, has been portrayed as a thorn in the side of eurocrats who want to use this crisis as an opportunity to make the dream of ever-closer union a full-fledged reality. Our own Lauren...

Capital Account -- 1/25/12

Angela Merkel kicked off Davos today by taking on the bond market and promising more Europe as the solution to Europe's problems. And while we've heard public concerns over the ills of crony capitalism, don’t you worry, Davos has found just the man to defend it, and Lauren Lyster, live from Davos, is just the woman to do it! And back in washington, America just had it's state of the union...

Capital Account -- 1/24/12

Heads of state, central bankers, CEOs of multinational corporations and international financiers make up more than 1600 of the business leaders now pouring in from all over the globe to this tiny ski resort town of Davos for the world economic forum. It's invite only. High on the agenda is capitalism itself – it's problems and it's future – so what does this mean for the rest of us? We're there...

Capital Account -- 1/20/12

As the US heads into the presidential primary in south carolina, the most recent republican debate featured Newt Gingrich defending his moral values – his marriage – , Mitt Romney defending his tax returns, and Rick Santorum defending his sweater vests, is there anyone is is actually making real sense in terms of dollars and cents? Is the lack of concentration and debate on the money...

Capital Account -- 1/19/12

The Federal Reserve has more than tripled the size of its balance sheet since the financial crisis, printing money in order to do it. Whose decision was that? Not yours, unless you're one of the handful of member soy the federal open market committee (FOMC). Next week they meet – some are predicting more quantitative easing (QE) may be on the menu. But what has all this money printing...

Capital Account -- 1/18/12

It is looking like the greek government may not be able to pay its bills in march as Athens is trying to renegotiate it's bonds with investors who may need to take an even larger haircut than originally envisioned. In addition, labor unions are negotiating on proposed labor cost cutting. So how will this greek tragedy play out? No one seems to have any idea, so what does this mess tell us about...

Capital Account -- 1/16/12

­We'll take a look at a Supreme Court ruling from yesterday that allows Congress to take works out of the public domain, and grant them copyright protection again. Is this a step backwards? Then, more trouble in the Eurozone as hedge funds are threatening to take Greece to the Human Rights Court, to force the country to make good on its bond payments. RT's Lauren Lyster, host of the Capital...