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Former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker says do it. So does former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan. Two big banks in England are doing it now. But the U.S. still won’t. To stop the ‘too big to fail psychosis,’ break up the banks. Break them up. Now. As the U.S. still struggles with its own too-big-to-fail issues, banks are once again a sore spot in Europe. The ... read more

CIT Group Inc. filed for bankruptcy Sunday afternoon, after getting approval on most of the details from its creditors. At risk, though, is $2.3 B in taxpayer bailout money, much of which is unlikely to ever be recovered, thus making it the single biggest loss for TARP. CIT is the fifth-largest bankruptcy in the history of the country, in terms of assets, and the company has posted more than ... read more

The House of Representative’s version of health-care reform will cost more than the $894 bn 10-year price tag cited by the Congressional Budget Office. That’s because the CBO and Congress do not address human responses to legislation. Tax something more, you ultimately take in less in taxes. Penalize a company, and it finds ways to dodge the penalty. And lawmakers have put in this ... read more

Is the U.S. now trapped in a zombie decade much like what Japan endured in the ‘90s? Answer: Yes, and the government will be conducting fiscal stimulus and deficit spending for up to 10 years to revive the economy. And did you know that seven out of eight U.S. banks were actually bankrupt due to the Latin American banking crisis of the early ‘80s? And that printing money won’t fix the ... read more

A general consensus is forming in the music industry: Country music is displacing rock ‘n roll as America's most popular brand of music. “One thing is for sure: if country is not the new rock ‘n roll, it's getting close,” says Thomas Valentino, founder and head of The Counsel, a law firm that represents top music industry artists including Kid Rock, Big & Rich, Gretchen Wilson and ... read more