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Fox News analyst James Farrell caught this one: The Wall Street Journal has a good summary article about the testimony of Treasury's inspector general about fraud in the first-time homebuyer tax credit. However, it missed a big footnote in the discussion by the Treasury IG about people who had previously bought homes fraudulently claiming the "first time" credit.  The IG's written ... read more

It’s so easy to do big bold, after-the-fact refereeing to capture splashy headlines, gutsy raps with the ruler on the knuckles of Wall Street as the midterm elections approach, instead of the real, tough legwork that would prevent another catastrophic banking crisis. A crisis many economists say would be larger than what we’ve ever dreamed of, as banks have gotten even bigger by buying ... read more

Banks like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase hit the cover off the ball when they reported their earnings. But the overall picture is a bit bleaker at two major banks -- Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo, which issued seemingly solid third quarter profit reports today that beat analysts’ estimates and has all of Wall Street crooking the trumpets. Hold on though, for just a second. Join me in ... read more

In unprepared remarks given at a Wall Street conference hosted by The Economist magazine yesterday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner delivered this eye-brow-raising comment: “We’ve got unsustainable deficits over a five- to 10-year window.” The statement came at a time when the White House and Congress are under fire for their massive, unconventional deficit spending to rescue the ... read more

Health insurer executive pay is in the bulls' eye in DC, with the Senate Finance Committee pushing hard on a plan to limit the corporate tax deductibility of health insurers' pay if these companies make a lot of money off of health reform. And Democratic Congressmen Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak are now beavering away at collecting information for potential hearings on executive pay and ... read more