(CNN) – If you're dissatisfied with the economy, or unemployed, Herman Cain thinks you should take a long, hard look in the mirror.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal posted Wednesday, the up-and-coming GOP 2012 contender and former CEO of Godfather's Pizza summed up his bewilderment about recent demonstrations on Wall Street.
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Washington (CNN) - Several hundred union and other progressive activists sought to capitalize on the growing "Occupy Wall Street" protests Wednesday, holding a rally on Capitol Hill to demand new public spending on job creation and an end to federal budget cuts.
The rally, led by former White House clean energy adviser Van Jones, highlighted growing liberal frustration with a public policy agenda increasingly dominated by deficit reduction efforts as opposed to more traditional economic stimulus measures.
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(CNN) – When President Barack Obama started speaking at the White House at 1:52 p.m. today, the Dow Jones was down around 400 points. When he wrapped up 10 minutes later, it was down around 430 points. And when the market closed at 4 p.m., the Dow was down 635 points for the day – a drop of more than 5.6%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq index was down nearly 6.9% for the day. The S&P 500 was down 6.7%. In short, it was a horrendous day on Wall Street – as it was earlier in Europe and Asia.
It's certainly not fair to blame only the president for this awful downslide. There are limits to what he can do in the current economic and political climate. There is plenty of blame to go around – including to congressional Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives.
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WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) - There's a myth in Washington that - come its July 21 launch date - the consumer financial protection bureau created by the Wall Street reform law has to sit on its hands without a Senate-confirmed director.
But Treasury and those working to set up the bureau disagree. They're preparing the bureau to wield some pretty big powers even without a director, many of which have gotten short shrift at other agencies.
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Washington (CNNMoney) - An Obama administration official gave a strong defense of the Wall Street reform law Tuesday, saying the measure costs a lot less than the alternative: a collapsed financial system.
During a speech at the Pew Charitable Trusts on Tuesday, Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin batted down accusations, from Republicans and the banking industry, that regulators were working too quickly or that reforms would be too costly.
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The perception that a $700 billion bailout aided financial institutions more than consumers could make it harder to do something similar in another crisis, a government watchdog group said Thursday. (PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images/File)
New York (CNNMoney.com) - The perception that a $700 billion bailout aided financial institutions more than consumers could make it harder to do something similar in another crisis, a government watchdog group said Thursday.
"The program is now widely perceived as bailing out Wall Street banks and domestic auto manufacturers while doing little for the 14.9 million workers who are unemployed, the 11 million homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages, or the countless other families struggling to make ends meet," the Congressional Oversight Panel said in its report.
The report said the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), approved by Congress in 2008 at the height of the financial crisis, succeeded in stabilizing the financial system.
But it said the program's other goals, protecting the homes and savings of Americans, were not met. Since October 2008, more than 7 million people have received foreclosure notices, and home prices and stock values have dropped roughly 30% from their pre-crisis peaks, the report said.
Washington (CNNMoney.com) - Banks, investment firms and hedge funds are giving millions of dollars more to Republicans, and abandoning the Democrats they had been supporting just a year ago.
The Center for Responsive Politics says the reversal began early this year, as the Senate started crafting tougher rules to crack down on Wall Street, and that it has become more pronounced.
"We noticed a very dramatic shift right around the beginning of this year, which coincided with financial reform," said Dave Levinthal, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics. "This is not just a blip at all; this is a major shift in the opposite direction and one that has persisted ever since."
Looking at the top 20 candidates for federal office receiving strong support from financial firms, only six are Democrats, the center found. New York Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer top that list - which isn't surprising since they represent a chunk of the financial sector, the center noted.
The rest of the top 20 are Republicans, many seeking Senate seats. Former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina of California tops the list for Republicans, followed by Dan Coats of Indiana and Marco Rubio of Florida.
Washington (CNNMoney.com) – The financial industry has spent $251 million on lobbying so far this year as lawmakers hammered out new rules of the road for Wall Street, according to the latest lobbying reports compiled by a watchdog group.
The financial sector spent more than any other special interest group from April through the end of June - a whopping $126 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics' latest estimates. Wall Street banks, as well as insurance and real estate firms, hiked the amount they spent on lobbying by 12% in the second quarter compared to the same period last year.
In the first half of 2010, Goldman Sachs spent $2.7 million, just $100,000 shy of the total the firm spent on lobbying in all of 2009. The firm's reports to the federal government said it lobbied Treasury, White House and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as well as Congress.
Other banks also flexed their muscle on Capitol Hill this year. Citigroup Inc. spent $3 million and Bank of America Corp. spent $2.1 million on lobbying during the first half of this year, the Center for Responsive Politics reports.
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Washington (CNNMoney.com) - Elizabeth Warren doesn't look or sound scary. She's a 61-year-old Harvard Law School professor from Oklahoma who has written personal finance books, some with her daughter.
But conservatives and some bankers are trying to kill any chance that Warren – a consistent critic of the financial sector before it was cool to be one – will run the consumer financical protection agency that's part of the Wall Street reform measure just signed into law by President Obama. Naysayers, such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., say they just don't trust her – although he doesn't say why.
"I think there's a lot of controversy around Elizabeth Warren's services," McConnell said Tuesday in a media briefing. "It is an
extraordinarily powerful position with an incredibly large budget and authority that is constrained by almost nothing. And, therefore, the person that does serve in that capacity is going to have to be trusted by everyone."
Warren, who chairs a congressionally appointed watchdog panel over the federal bailout, is not the only candidate for the job. But she is the one everyone is watching.
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Washington (CNN) – President Obama used his weekly radio and internet address to tout the Wall Street reform bill signed into law this week but also slammed House Minority Leader John Boehner, saying the Republican's plan to create jobs is "surprisingly short, and sadly familiar."
"[W]hat we can't afford right now is to go back to the same ideas that created this mess in the first place," Obama says. "Unfortunately, those are the ideas we keep hearing from our friends in the other party. This week, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives offered his plan to create jobs. It's a plan that's surprisingly short, and sadly familiar."
"These are not new ideas. They are the same policies that led us into this recession. They will not create jobs, they will kill them. They will not reduce our deficit, they will add $1 trillion to our deficit. They will take us backward at a time when we need to keep America moving forward."
Boehner shot back Saturday, calling Obama "out of touch."
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