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Articles by Ryan Chittum | Email the Author

 

1. The Audit

   FT’s New Site Is Big. Really Big.

   November 13, 2008 09:39 AM

   The Financial Times has redesigned its Web site, and on first impression, it’s just awful. Why are its Web readers, who surely trend younger than print subscribers, suddenly being treated like large-print... Continue reading

2. The Audit

   Shop Till Your Bubble Pops

   November 13, 2008 09:15 AM

   This Times story on customers returning more merchandise to retailers (because of the bad economy) reads more like a story about shopper psychosis. Nicolette Gonzalez, who calls herself an “addictive spender,” used to turn a blind eye to price,... Continue reading

3. The Audit

   Bloomberg Beats the Drums

   November 13, 2008 08:43 AM

   Bloomberg continues to push the government to disclose who it’s handing $2 trillion. Today it writes that five Republican congressmen, including House Minority Leader John Boehner, called for the Fed to give up the goods. Good for them. Now... Continue reading

4. The Audit

   WSJ: New York Investigates Swaps

   November 13, 2008 08:25 AM

   The Journal has an interesting story on an investigation into the credit-default swaps market. New York Attorney General Andrew (Spitzer’s Replacement) Cuomo is looking at brokers to see if they manipulated the market. I’ll venture a guess that ambitious... Continue reading

5. The Audit

   Paulson Pile-on

   November 13, 2008 07:58 AM

   Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s credibility continues to dwindle—not a good thing, considering the markets and the economy need to believe someone’s got a handle on the crisis. The New York Times alludes to that in so many words on... Continue reading

6. The Audit

   WSJ: Banks Hit a “Home Run” with AIG Bailout

   November 12, 2008 09:45 AM

   The WSJ is good here in looking at how the newly expanded AIG bailout is basically a backdoor bailout to banks. What it’s doing is bailing out the financial geniuses who bought up CDOs and then insured them with... Continue reading

7. The Audit

   Consumer Crash

   November 12, 2008 09:24 AM

   David Leonhardt has some interesting numbers in his column in the Times today and makes the case that the talked-about $150 billion stimulus package won’t be nearly big enough to offset the likely decline in consumer spending. At that... Continue reading

8. The Audit

   Yes, It’s This Bad

   November 12, 2008 08:58 AM

   Barry Ritholtz over at his newly redesigned (like ours, hope you noticed) site, does a good deed posting the information of a man he saw near Grand Central Terminal in a Great Depression-style sandwich board reading "Almost homeless.... Continue reading

9. The Audit

   Rockin’ in the Fee World

   November 12, 2008 08:35 AM

   Here’s a good, newsy personal-finance story. The Journal reports that banks are turning the screws on their customers, pushing those nasty and often semi-hidden fees on checking accounts to record highs. Their customers are already bailing them out via... Continue reading

10. The Audit

    Glass of Milk with Your “Bailout Pie”?

    November 12, 2008 08:09 AM

    The New York Times takes a good look at the feeding frenzy of Washington lobbyists trying to get a piece of the bailout. This is gross: Then there is the National Marine Manufacturers Association, which is asking whether boat... Continue reading

11. The Audit

    Audit Roundup: Underwater in California

    November 11, 2008 09:33 AM

    The New York Times finds a place where 90 percent of the mortgages are underwater, the most in the country. The average homeowner in Mountain House, California, owes a whopping $122,000 more than the house is worth. Look how... Continue reading

12. The Audit

    Audit Roundup: Bloomberg Fights the Fed

    November 10, 2008 09:18 AM

    Bloomberg has been excellent in watchdogging the Federal Reserve’s various bailouts, even suing the government last week for the information. Today, it reports that the Fed won’t tell to whom it’s lending $2 trillion (this is in addition... Continue reading

13. The Audit

    Audit Roundup: Shopper Shock

    November 7, 2008 09:26 AM

    The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal employ different tones on the terrible retail sales reports yesterday. The Times’ lede: Sales at the nation’s largest retailers fell off a cliff in October, casting fresh doubt on... Continue reading

14. The Audit

    Audit Roundup: Newspaper Sales Skyrocket!

    November 6, 2008 09:27 AM

    The NYT has a nice story this morning on the overwhelming demand yesterday for… wait for it… newspapers! The election of Barack Obama produced a clamor for newspapers that publishers said they had never seen. From The Cincinnati... Continue reading

15. The Audit

    Audit Roundup: Obamanomics

    November 5, 2008 09:23 AM

    Bloomberg, better than the Journal, Times, or Post, looks ahead to the economic change likely under an Obama administration. The Democratic president-elect has much more on his agenda, amounting to what may be the broadest overhaul of the U.S.... Continue reading

16. The Audit

    Audit Roundup: Wall Street Baloney

    November 4, 2008 09:16 AM

    This is one of the most gullible stories I’ve seen in some time. The FT reports that Wall Street says it won’t use its government bailout to pay out bonuses. It’s going to use its other money to do... Continue reading

17. The Audit

    My Foreclosure: Judgment and Empathy

    November 3, 2008 10:02 AM

    When Audit honcho Dean Starkman asked me if I would write a story about losing my family’s home when I was fifteen, I readily agreed, not realizing at the time how difficult it would be. Sorry, dear reader, I... Continue reading

18. The Audit

    Audit Roundup: WaMu’s Boiler Room

    November 3, 2008 09:20 AM

    The NYT’s Gretchen Morgenson talks to a former WaMu mortgage underwriter, who dishes on what sure seems to us like outright fraud at the bank, which because of all that dirty business became the biggest bank failure in American... Continue reading

19. The Audit

    Audit Roundup: Deregulate, Sayeth Bush

    October 31, 2008 09:26 AM

    The Washington Post is good this morning in reporting that the Bush Administration, which is exiting with the house falling down around it, is trying to knock out another couple of columns before it goes. After all we’ve learned... Continue reading

20. The Audit

    Audit Roundup: Bubble Brains

    October 30, 2008 09:25 AM

    What a short memory the business press has. Amazingly, neither the Journal nor the NYT in their page-one stories on the Fed slashing interest rates to 1 percent mention what happened the last time the Fed slashed... Continue reading

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