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Articles by Ryan Chittum | Email the Author

 

1. The Audit

   The Journal Shines a Light on Modern Debtors’ Prisons

   March 17, 2011 11:30 AM

   The Wall Street Journal has an excellent story today reporting on the country's modern-day debtors' prisons, which I'd thought were done away with here two centuries ago. Jessica Silver-Greenberg does some superb enterprise reporting, working with what little data... Continue reading

2. The Audit

   The Libor Lag

   March 16, 2011 07:12 PM

   The business papers all report news that the Department of Justice, SEC, and Commodities Futures Trading Commission (and apparently other agencies) are investigating whether the big banks manipulated the critical Libor gauge of interest rates to make themselves look healthier... Continue reading

3. The Audit

   Gingrich’s Disingenuous Journal Op-Ed

   March 16, 2011 05:33 AM

   Newt Gingrich is no doubt a smart man. So he surely knows better than to write what he and his co-writer Peter Ferrara, who got paid by Jack Abramoff to write favorable op-eds about folks like the Choctaw tribe... Continue reading

4. The Audit

   Audit Notes: Two Economies, Red-Handed Raj, Life at SXSW

   March 15, 2011 08:30 PM

   Steven Pearlstein of the Washington Post comments on a new study out from an NYU prof that shows how globalization and so-called free trade have opened up a schism between two parts of the U.S. economy. Michael Spence and... Continue reading

5. The Audit

   As the Revolving Door Turns

   March 15, 2011 02:44 PM

   The Wall Street Journal reports today that the head of the Federal Housing Administration, David H. Stevens, will become CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association. Meantime, the Los Angeles Times reports that former Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael... Continue reading

6. The Audit

   Audit Notes: When a Loss Isn’t a Loss, Lehman, WSJ on Nukes

   March 15, 2011 01:01 AM

   You're going to hear a lot about all the "losses" insurers are going to be taking on the catastrophe in Japan. For instance, this story in The Wall Street Journal today: Moody's: Insurers Face Heavy Losses But don't be... Continue reading

7. The Audit

   Breakingviews Misses on the Fed’s Debit Card Rules

   March 14, 2011 07:20 PM

   The banking lobby is pushing back bigtime against the Federal Reserve rules that would force it to stop gouging consumers and retailers every time they swipe their debit cards. The new rule would force interchange fees down from 44 cents... Continue reading

8. The Audit

   Watchdogs Eye the AG’s Foreclosure Fraud Settlement

   March 14, 2011 02:41 PM

   Gretchen Morgenson yesterday criticized the states attorneys general for their proposed foreclosure fraud settlement, writing that it's a slapdash rush that lets the banks off the hook without really finding out what they did. She makes an excellent point... Continue reading

9. The Audit

   Audit Notes: Lehman’s Green Monster, Sands Storm, Amazon Taxes

   March 11, 2011 07:55 PM

   Bloomberg's Christine Harper Richard and Bob Ivry circle back to the Fenway deal Lehman Brothers made with Hudson Castle that allowed it to cook its books by lending $3 billion to itself. Lehman turned souring real estate investments into... Continue reading

10. The Audit

    A Zombie Lie Is Born

    March 11, 2011 12:21 PM

    Two days ago I fisked a false report from CNBC that said more than a third of all wages and salaries are now government handouts. That kind of a report, based on a study by an outfit called... Continue reading

11. The Audit

    The WSJ Flags an Accounting Trick on Private Pensions

    March 10, 2011 03:25 PM

    The Wall Street Journal had an excellent story yesterday on how major companies are playing around with their pension accounting to make their books look better. The paper gives it a good headline that in three words sums up... Continue reading

12. The Audit

    Audit Notes: More Murdoch, Hiltzik on the Social Security Trust Fund

    March 9, 2011 07:45 PM

    A couple of weeks ago, Allan Sloan wrote about Rupert Murdoch is using $673 million of his shareholders' money to buy Murdoch's daughter Elisabeth's production company. That self-dealing caused him to say this: It's one thing to have News... Continue reading

13. The Audit

    Corporate Cousins

    March 9, 2011 05:08 PM

    Daniel Gross brings up the fact that it's been two years since Michael Boskin's editorial in The Wall Street Journal claimed "Obama's Radicalism Is Killing the Dow," and that since that piece ran, stocks have soared. But Boskin was... Continue reading

14. The Audit

    Conflating Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid

    March 9, 2011 10:38 AM

    Meanwhile, while we're pointing out games journalists play and the question of whether Social Security is welfare, WaPo's Robert J. Samuelson says this:

 In a recent column on the senior citizen lobby, I noted that Social Security is... Continue reading

15. The Audit

    CNBC Misleads on “Welfare State” Dominance

    March 9, 2011 10:20 AM

    (UPDATE: See my follow-up post here: A Zombie Lie Is Born: CNBC’s false welfare-state story spreads far and wide.) There are so many things wrong with this CNBC "Fast Money" story it's hard to know where... Continue reading

16. The Audit

    The Times Ups the Ante on the SEC’s Madoff Mess

    March 9, 2011 01:00 AM

    The New York Times has a great scoop this morning advancing the ball on the SEC's entanglement with Bernie Madoff. Remember a couple of weeks ago we found out that the SEC's top lawyer, David M. Becker, had... Continue reading

17. The Audit

    Deal Myopia in the WSJ and NYT on Hard Drive Merger

    March 8, 2011 02:52 PM

    Here's a good example of how poorly the business press covers acquisitions that could hurt competition. The Wall Street Journal reports today that Western Digital is buying Hitachi's hard-drive business. The headline: Merger to Create PC Drive Giant PC... Continue reading

18. The Audit

    Audit Notes: Journalists Subpoenaed, Private Pension Woes, Galleon

    March 7, 2011 11:53 PM

    Matthew Goldstein of Reuters reports that several business journalists are caught up in the crossfire between Fairfax Financial and hedge funds. Hedge fundie Daniel Loeb sent subpoenas (since rescinded) to Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera, Peter Eavis was subpoenaed... Continue reading

19. The Audit

    The WSJ Overreaches On Wisconsin Democrats Story

    March 7, 2011 02:24 PM

    The Wall Street Journal went A1 with a big scoop this morning that "Democrats to End Union Standoff" in Wisconsin. Big news! Problem is, some of the Democrats said immediately that the story was wrong, and its main source... Continue reading

20. The Audit

    Audit Notes: Fox on the Overpaid, Winkler Smiles, FT Ads

    March 4, 2011 06:33 PM

    The Fox News propaganda machine has been ramped up to portray $700 a week teachers and other government employees as overpaid, violent, journalist-hating wastrels milking the public dry while letting the Chinese beat our progeny at math. Leave... Continue reading

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