Tag Archives | capitalism
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Economic Interests and the American Civil War

April 11, 2011

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter. The ensuing Civil War was a conflict of the industrial revolution. New technologies, such as rifles, railroads and steamships, facilitated bloodletting on a horrific scale. It consolidated power in the federal government in ways the founders had hoped to prevent. [...]

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Insider Trading: A Window On Our Economy

April 7, 2011

Insider trading is making more headlines than we have seen since Ivan Boesky was fitted with handcuffs back in 1986. This morning’s newspapers report the arrests of Matthew Kluger and Garrett Bauer, a lawyer-trader pair who have apparently been at it for seventeen years. A third party in the scheme is cooperating with authorities. Yesterday, [...]

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CEO Pay at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

April 5, 2011

The inspector general of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has released a devastating report on executive compensation at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the wake of the government’s $153 billion bailout of those firms.

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Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

March 22, 2011

March 25, 2011 marks the hundred year anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. One hundred forty-six workers perished in a blaze that engulfed the ten story Asch Building in lower Manhattan. Most were young seamstresses who worked six days a week for a pittance. The tragedy unfolded blocks from where, ninety years later, the twin towers [...]