The Audit

Leakapalooza on the Hill

Public relations bends this morning’s banking committee previews

By Dean Starkman   Nov 16, 2010 at 12:45 PM

Bank of America previewed and helped to soften its executives' planned apology before Congress today by letting the Times... More

L.A. Times Quantifies the Dominance of the Finance Lobby

No “obtained” records here or even FOIAs; this info was in plain sight

By Ryan Chittum   Nov 15, 2010 at 06:57 AM

The Los Angeles Times drops some good reporting this morning on regulation and the financial lobby, aggregating publicly available records... More

The Treasury Stops by Freakonomics

By Felix Salmon   Nov 14, 2010 at 11:31 PM

I love the way that Michael Mundaca, the assistant Treasury secretary for tax policy, has taken to the blogs to... More

Re-examining the mortgage interest deduction

By Felix Salmon   Nov 14, 2010 at 11:21 PM

One of the positive effects of the deficit commission report is the way that it has brought the stupid mortgage-interest... More

The NYT’s attempt to fix the budget

By Felix Salmon   Nov 14, 2010 at 11:05 PM

In the wake of his excellent rent-vs-buy calculator, David Leonhardt has helped create another interactive tool, this one called... More

Audit Notes: Free Trade “Hit,” Taxing Wall Street, Bruce Karatz v. Tron Carter

By Ryan Chittum   Nov 12, 2010 at 03:29 PM

One thing the financial press doesn't much pretend to be neutral about is "free trade." They love that stuff. See... More

Another WSJ Deficit Plan Headline Misses the Mark

By Felix Salmon   Nov 12, 2010 at 12:18 PM

The WSJ does none of its readers any favors with its silly headline attempting to sum up the effects of... More

The $600 Million Homeowner Bailout

An economic disaster for the country and a political one for Obama

By Ryan Chittum   Nov 12, 2010 at 07:27 AM

Remember when a little ol' homeowner bailout set off CNBC's Rick Santelli, igniting the Tea Party movement back in February... More

MSNBC’s Ratigan Goes Way Off the Deep End

Discussing violent revolution as if it’s just another policy option

By Ryan Chittum   Nov 11, 2010 at 04:06 PM

MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan not only decided it was a good idea to have on far-left cartoonist Ted Rall to... More

Overplaying the Two Old Guys’ Report

The Times busts out the war font for a deficit plan with dubious prospects

By Ryan Chittum   Nov 11, 2010 at 02:00 PM

The Wall Street Journal and New York Times misplay the report out of the deficit commission panel today. The Journal... More

Medicare and the Deficit

The commission noise aside, it’s all that matters

By Felix Salmon   Nov 11, 2010 at 11:40 AM

The most clear-eyed view of the silliness of the deficit commission report comes from Kevin Drum, who points out that... More

A Biovail/60 Minutes Coda

By Dean Starkman   Nov 10, 2010 at 06:13 PM

Some stories just never go away. 60 Minutes's poor decision four years ago to portray a small pharmaceuticals company... More

Audit Notes: WSJ Explains Ireland, Eisinger, Tragedy of the Technocrats

By Ryan Chittum   Nov 10, 2010 at 04:13 PM

Every once in a while, we get one of those page-one stories in The Wall Street Journal that remind you... More

A Times Story Bodes Ill for the Washington Post

An investigation shows how Kaplan used predatory tactics to get students and government money

By Ryan Chittum   Nov 10, 2010 at 03:32 PM

The for-profit college business just looks worse and worse, and a New York Times investigation this morning paints a disturbing... More

Audit Notes: Foreclosure Scandal, Gold Still Not a Record, Facebook Ads

By Ryan Chittum   Nov 9, 2010 at 06:11 PM

The Washington Post drops this eye-raising info from a Long Island judge who's not happy with the banks' actions in... More