The Audit

Audit Notes: Catching Up With Wall Street, Princess Dresses, Olbermann and Objectivity

By Ryan Chittum   Nov 17, 2010 at 06:21 PM

The New York Observer's Max Abelson takes a look at the Wall Street people who nearly crashed the world. Where... More

WSJ’s Casino Piece: A Few Details Short of a Full Deck

By Felix Salmon   Nov 17, 2010 at 04:07 PM

Alexandra Berzon has an enjoyable piece in today's WSJ about the Cosmpolitan, the new $4 billion casino, fully paid for... More

The FT Talks to the Little Guy

A story told through regular folks in Ireland, rather than Davos Men

By Ryan Chittum   Nov 17, 2010 at 04:03 PM

This isn't a particularly great story by the Financial Times, but I'm going to applaud it anyway, because it shows... More

A Particularly Weak WSJ Page One

One-sided on the deficit, plus stale news, and a royal yawner

By Ryan Chittum   Nov 17, 2010 at 10:37 AM

Boy, this morning's Wall Street Journal page one leaves a lot to be desired. First, there's this story: States Offer... More

Audit Notes: ProPub vs. BofA, Wall Street in the White House, Short-Armed

By Ryan Chittum   Nov 16, 2010 at 08:02 PM

I love to see the press just flat-out say somebody's full of it. ProPublica's Karen Weise does that today, calling... More

Reporting Commodity Price Swings

Stories often lead readers to believe inflationary impact is greater than it really is

By Ryan Chittum   Nov 16, 2010 at 05:03 PM

Bloomberg shouts this headline today about commodity prices going up: Gap, Wal-Mart Clothing Costs Rise on ‘Terrifying’ Cotton Prices Its... More

Zagat Remains a Profitable Brand

Does it matter that it hasn’t won the web?

By Lauren Kirchner   Nov 16, 2010 at 02:50 PM

The New York Times ran a story over the weekend called “Zagat Survey Aims to Regain Its Online Balance,” about... More

LAT Watchdogs Wall Street on the GM IPO

The banks just can’t help themselves, and if shares soar, political problems await.

By Ryan Chittum   Nov 16, 2010 at 01:03 PM

The L.A. Times takes a smart tack on the General Motors IPO story, reporting that it shows how Wall Street... More

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