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Articles by Ryan Chittum | Email the Author

 

1. The Audit

   The Post’s Paulson Puff, Part Two

   November 19, 2008 08:20 AM

   The Washington Post graces us this morning with part two of its Henry Paulson hero-worship series. I was skeptical yesterday when the Post let Paulson spin wildly that his hands were tied legally on Lehman Brothers, the... Continue reading

2. The Audit

   WSJ’s Bank Mod Story Incomplete

   November 18, 2008 10:07 AM

   The Wall Street Journal reports that even banks that have modified home loans to help struggling borrowers are getting slammed by defaults. The U.K. bank, which bought an Illinois subprime lender called Household International Inc. in 2003, has modified... Continue reading

3. The Audit

   FT on the Other Paulson

   November 18, 2008 09:21 AM

   The Financial Times has an interesting piece of news: John Paulson, who’s made many billions of dollars betting against housing in the last couple of years, is now wading into fire-sale mortgage bonds. This is a hopeful sign, for... Continue reading

4. The Audit

   LAT on the Flipside of the Housing Bust

   November 18, 2008 09:07 AM

   We too often forget that the housing bust is good for a lot of people, namely those who can now actually afford to buy a house that’s not crazily overpriced. The Los Angeles Times reports on how buyers in Santa... Continue reading

5. The Audit

   Promise and Peril at Tesla

   November 18, 2008 08:53 AM

   The Washington Post has an interesting look at Tesla Motors, the startup electric-car company that’s run into trouble recently. It’s a good time to be looking at alternatives to the Formerly Big Three, I’d say, and this one is... Continue reading

6. The Audit

   The Post’s Paulson Puff

   November 18, 2008 08:29 AM

   The Washington Post goes long with yet another Henry Paulson profile. There’s not much new here—add it to the list of Great Man Theory pieces lionizing Paulson, this time as someone with the flexibility of mind to change... Continue reading

7. The Audit

   Subprime Didn’t Have To Be a Dirty Word

   November 17, 2008 04:37 PM

   Daniel Gross blows a gaping hole in the argument that borrowers are to blame for the housing bust and subsequent financial crisis. Writing for Newsweek, he reports on a part of the subprime lending industry that’s actually doing great.... Continue reading

8. The Audit

   WSJ on Rising Health Costs for Small Biz

   November 17, 2008 09:33 AM

   The Journal is good today in writing on how higher health-care costs, exacerbated by the financial crisis, are hitting small businesses. The paper nicely explains why premiums are rising sharply and illustrates the impact well. This paragraph neatly sums... Continue reading

9. The Audit

   Spitzer Reappears

   November 17, 2008 09:19 AM

   Eliot Spitzer came out of hiding yesterday to suggest some remedies for Wall Street. Good for the Washington Post for running his op-ed. Of course, the WSJ edit page is shocked (shocked!) he’s shown his face and rushes... Continue reading

10. The Audit

    WSJ Misses a Big Part of Goldman Story

    November 17, 2008 08:58 AM

    The Journal puts the Goldman bonus news—its top seven executives aren’t taking one—on page one. The decision at Goldman doesn't mean everyone at the firm will go home empty-handed. The firm still has to reward its roughly 30,000 employees.... Continue reading

11. The Audit

    The Times on Phil Gramm’s Folly

    November 17, 2008 08:22 AM

    The New York Times takes an in-depth look at the discredited former senator, current UBS banker/lobbyist, and deregulator extraordinaire Phil Gramm’s role in creating the financial crisis. Gramm talked to the Times but maybe should have pleaded the Fifth—his... Continue reading

12. The Audit

    Shifting Insurer Risk to Policyholders

    November 14, 2008 10:22 AM

    The Journal reports that state regulators are considering lowering the reserve requirements for life-insurance companies to ease the financial pressures on them. But that just transfers risk to the consumers the policies are supposed to be covering. Ms. Voss says... Continue reading

13. The Audit

    Audit Interview: Jonathan Weil

    November 14, 2008 10:13 AM

    If you’ve missed Bloomberg columnist Jonathan Weil’s work over the past year, you’ve missed a lot. Early to sniff out AIG, Washington Mutual, and Wachovia, Weil was first to raise important questions about Lehman Brothers' off-balance-sheet... Continue reading

14. The Audit

    Globalization Gone Awry

    November 14, 2008 09:39 AM

    Steven Pearlstein makes some good points in his Washington Post column today on how and why American-style capitalism has broken down around the world. From the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s to the Asian financial crisis of... Continue reading

15. The Audit

    WSJ’s Page One Commodities

    November 14, 2008 09:29 AM

    The Journal’s front-page business stories are run-of-the-mill this morning, far from the glory days of yore. One reports that banks are competing to draw deposits by raising interest rates. Another news story, what the paper calls a page-one... Continue reading

16. The Audit

    AIG’s Accountability Affront

    November 14, 2008 09:11 AM

    Floyd Norris is right to say the bailouts are seriously lacking on the accountability front. Here he gives AIG a deserved bit of smacky-face: Before it collapsed, the American International Group was a haughty company that thought it was... Continue reading

17. The Audit

    WSJ’s Citi Fallout

    November 14, 2008 08:27 AM

    The Journal’s scoop yesterday that Citigroup’s board is considering firing its chairman made waves yesterday. The Times and the FT try to catch up, with the latter doing a better job. And there’s a faceoff between... Continue reading

18. The Audit

    This Is the End

    November 14, 2008 08:04 AM

    Michael Lewis has a great story in Portfolio looking at the demise of Wall Street. He tells the story of Steve Eisman, a hedge-fund manager who was a long-time cynic about Wall Street and who won big by... Continue reading

19. The Audit

    WaPo: Waiting for a Watchdog

    November 13, 2008 10:57 AM

    The Washington Post reports that the oversight panel for the $700 billion bailout hasn’t been, um, impaneled. In fact: …no formal action has been taken to fill the independent oversight posts established by Congress when it approved the bailout... Continue reading

20. The Audit

    The Journal Gets Inside Citi’s Boardroom

    November 13, 2008 10:01 AM

    The WSJ scoops this morning that Citigroup's board is considering firing its chairman, Sir Win Bischoff. Some directors have grown concerned that Sir Win, who is based in London, hasn't been exercising adequate oversight. Did no one foresee... Continue reading

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