Audit Roundup: Doubting the Candidates

Pearlstein says neither inspires much crisis confidence; Lightning strikes twice with S&L, subprime; etc.

By Ryan Chittum   Oct 8, 2008 at 09:34 AM

Steven Pearlstein of the Washington Post is good this morning (on a very tight deadline) on the unimpressiveness of both... More

Audit Roundup: The Fannie/Freddie Smokescreen

Ritholtz continues his good work; 60 Minutes solid on swaps; etc.

By Ryan Chittum   Oct 7, 2008 at 09:16 AM

Barry Ritholtz at The Big Picture continues to smack down the Wall Street apologists trying to shift blame to Fannie... More

Audit Roundup: Mallaby’s Fallacy

Regulation not needed to prevent snake-oil sales; NYT on Fan and Fred’s role in the subprime mess; etc.

By Ryan Chittum   Oct 6, 2008 at 09:35 AM

Sebastian Mallaby of the Washington Post says all this talk about the crisis being caused by deregulated markets failing is... More

Audit Roundup: Times digs into SEC

Where was this story years ago? Plus more regulatory mishaps in the WSJ

By Ryan Chittum   Oct 3, 2008 at 09:34 AM

The Times digs into the SEC’s role in enabling the crisis, looking at a crucial regulatory loosening in 2004 that... More

Audit Roundup: A Day (and a Half) in the Life

Riveting NYT story on 36 hours of panic; Press explains in its own way why something must be done

By Ryan Chittum   Oct 2, 2008 at 09:15 AM

The Times puts its big guns on a long page-one piece on the 36 hours when the crisis began spinning... More

Audit Roundup: $700 Billion in a New Light

Enough to buy top 23 banks; Depression talk, etc.

By Ryan Chittum   Oct 1, 2008 at 09:22 AM

Jonathan Weil of Bloomberg has an eye-opening column about the need to inject capital into the system, rather than just... More

Audit Roundup: Conveying the Magnitude

Times bests Journal on A1; Get ready for very high unemployment, etc.

By Ryan Chittum   Sep 30, 2008 at 09:52 AM

These are incredible, historic times, and the Times’ writing rises to the occasion much more than the Journal’s, at least... More

Canadian Club

National Post doesn’t disclose its subject is also an owner

By Ryan Chittum   Sep 29, 2008 at 01:13 PM

When facing a potential conflict of interest, in journalism, as in finance, it’s good to err on the side of... More

Audit Roundup: Goldman Everywhere

Including Paulson pow-wow on AIG; Was letting Lehman go a no-no? etc.

By Ryan Chittum   Sep 29, 2008 at 09:50 AM

The New York Times’ Gretchen Morgenson wrote a great piece yesterday on how a tiny unit of AIG led to... More

Audit Roundup: NYT on WaMu’s Bank Run

Board didn’t even know; banks worse off than the S&L crisis? etc.

By Ryan Chittum   Sep 26, 2008 at 09:10 AM

The extraordinary times continue. Nobody’s really framing it this way, but a 1930’s-style run on the bank just felled the... More

Audit Roundup: Bloomberg Bites the Raters

Looks at S&P, Moody’s flops; what price junk? etc.

By Ryan Chittum   Sep 25, 2008 at 11:26 AM

While the focus now is rightly on how to prevent a (possible) economic apocalypse, let’s not forget the key players... More

5 Crisis Questions for the Press

Including what happens if we say “no”?

By Ryan Chittum   Sep 25, 2008 at 08:28 AM

1. What happens if nothing happens? If the government doesn’t bail out Wall Street and the banks, will we all... More

UAL and Bloomberg, Revisited

The power of “The Bloomberg,” and lessons for a nervous market

By Ryan Chittum   Sep 23, 2008 at 03:28 PM

The litany of media screw-ups in the UAL affair—that financial news blip before the current deluge—was well documented. Except, that... More

Note to CNBC: Breathe

Burnett suggests shorts are unpatriotic; Cramer says it may be terrorism

By Ryan Chittum   Sep 18, 2008 at 03:41 PM

And now we have CNBC's Erin Burnett questioning short sellers' patriotism. This, we overhead this afternoon. Not believing our ears,... More

Audit Roundup: The Sun Breaks One, etc.

Crisis brings more scrutiny for the SEC; getting beyond false balance

By Ryan Chittum   Sep 18, 2008 at 02:29 PM

The New York Sun ain't dead yet, and reports an ex Securities and Exchange Commission official says a boneheaded SEC... More

Audit Roundup: Credit Markets Grind to a Halt

By Ryan Chittum   Sep 17, 2008 at 06:07 PM

Forget about AIG. This is the most important story of the day. Banks have essentially stopped lending to each other,... More

Audit Roundup: Wall Street Gives Way

Wall Street’s rot; Where are the accounting cops?

By Ryan Chittum   Sep 16, 2008 at 02:12 PM

Fortune takes a look at how Wall Street rotted from the inside until it gave way, while the FT’s John... More

Audit Roundup: Playing Chicken

Coverage of credit crisis is good, bad, ugly

By Ryan Chittum   Sep 15, 2008 at 12:07 PM

Here's a quick guide to what the business press is saying about the deepening crisis on Wall Street: The Journal... More

Mae We Correct the Record?

Fannie had a social mission first and a private one second

By Ryan Chittum   Sep 11, 2008 at 10:03 AM

The Fannie/Freddie Fiasco is bad enough without news outlets letting politicians mangle their history. In reporting the two parties’ positions... More

Tomato, “Toe-mahto,” TIAA-CREF

Readers may never see syndicated columnist Berko’s many corrections

By Ryan Chittum   Sep 8, 2008 at 03:42 PM

Malcolm Berko is a money man for Middle America. Writing on an old IBM Selectric typewriter, Berko cranks out a... More