Steven Pearlstein – News Stories About Steven Pearlstein - Page 1

Let's Fix America With Millionaires' Money

Steven Pearlstein

Sep 3, 2010 2:40 PM CDT

Let's Fix America With Millionaires' Money

Republican arguments are 'hogwash'

(Newser) - The Democrats are in desperate need of an economic and political boost, and the expiring Bush tax cuts ought to provide one, writes Steven Pearlstein of the Washington Post . The economics are simple: You can’t raise taxes on the middle class in a recession, but the rich would only...

Movie Stock Exchange Proves Wall Street's Mad

Steven Pearlstein

Mar 12, 2010 11:38 AM CST

Movie Stock Exchange Proves Wall Street's Mad

Speculation doesn't really help anyone

(Newser) - The announcement that investors can soon buy “futures” in Hollywood movies, shouldn’t be too surprising—it’s the logical extension of what financial markets have become. Once tools for raising capital for real businesses, the markets “have turned themselves into high-tech casinos,” writes Steven Pearlstein of...

Mass. Vote
Wasn't About
Health Care

OPINION

Jan 20, 2010 3:50 AM CST

Mass. Vote Wasn't About Health Care

Bay State has already got health care reform, writes Steven Pearlstein

(Newser) - The Democrats' Bay State shocker is bad news for health care reform but it certainly wasn't a referendum on it, writes Steven Pearlstein. Massachusetts voters have a long history of electing Republican governors and senators to offset the Democratic-dominated state legislature so it's no surprise that they chose Scott Brown...

Face It: the Public
Option's a No-Go

OPINION

Aug 19, 2009 8:31 AM CDT

Face It: the Public Option's a No-Go

'Political litmus test' wouldn't be effective anyway

(Newser) - The public health care option is simply a “political litmus test” pushed by left-wingers to represent their side of an “ideological war”—and it’s time to give it up, writes Steven Pearlstein in the Washington Post. “There is nothing about having one government-owned health insurance...

Change the Fed,
Keep Bernanke

OPINION

Aug 14, 2009 6:52 AM CDT

Change the Fed, Keep Bernanke

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve is ripe for some major changes everywhere but at the top, Steven Pearlstein writes for the Washington Post. It's finally clear that the job "involves a lot more than adjusting interest rates," and we've seen the drain that happened when we "left the previous...

Inaction Costlier
Than Health Reform

OPINION

Jul 22, 2009 7:24 AM CDT

Inaction Costlier Than Health Reform

(Newser) - If you want to see a health care plan that will hike your taxes, increase your medical expenses, and swell the deficit, Steven Pearlstein can name one: "Doing nothing as we continue to search in vain for the perfect plan." For the Washington Post columnist, a somewhat...

Obama's Bank Plan Punts on Tough Parts

OPINION

Jun 19, 2009 7:48 AM CDT

Obama's Bank Plan Punts on Tough Parts

Krugman, Pearlstein agree: It doesn't address key problems

(Newser) - Barack Obama knows what caused the financial crisis, but his regulatory plan “basically punts on the question of how to keep it from happening all over again,” writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times. Obama’s plan takes the crucial step of regulating the “shadow banking”...

Don't Listen
to Krugman—
This Plan
Might Work

OPINION

Mar 24, 2009 7:51 AM CDT

Don't Listen to Krugman— This Plan Might Work

Pearlstein lays into fellow columnist

(Newser) - Even before the full details were released, critics were bashing the Treasury's public-private asset purchase plan; Paul Krugman predicted it would fail and lead the country into depression (not to speak of the writer into despair). Steven Pearlstein begs to differ, and the markets seem to agree. For the Washington ...

Calm Down, Government Debt Won't Kill Us

OPINION

Mar 4, 2009 12:11 PM CST

Calm Down, Government Debt Won't Kill Us

(Newser) - Republicans have become born-again deficit hawks, decrying the debt President Obama is handing America’s grandkids. “What’s missing,” writes Steven Pearlstein in the Washington Post, “is any sense of perspective.” The added $2 trillion pales before the $66 trillion spent annually on Social Security and...

Autoworkers, Bankers Have a Lot in Common

OPINION

Feb 18, 2009 9:11 AM CST

Autoworkers, Bankers Have a Lot in Common

Exorbitant pay of both brought down their respective industries

(Newser) - They may not seem all that similar, but Detroit’s autoworkers and Wall Street’s bankers have the same story, writes Steven Pearlstein in the Washington Post. From the 1950s up until, say, yesterday, "autoworkers were the aristocrats of the blue-collar world, (and) Wall Street traders and investment bankers...

No Silver Bullet for Crises Like These: Pearlstein

OPINION

Jan 23, 2009 11:22 AM CST

No Silver Bullet for Crises Like These: Pearlstein

Complex financial system requires complicated fixes ... and lots of patience

(Newser) - With various factions blaming a single factor—and pushing a single solution—for the financial crisis, Steven Pearlstein of the Washington Post cautions that there won’t be a silver bullet. Reducing foreclosures, removing toxic assets, and nationalizing banks will all come into play; meantime, we must “resist the...

Quit Griping About
Bailout: It's Working

OPINION

Jan 14, 2009 11:18 AM CST

Quit Griping About Bailout: It's Working

Was it fair? Nope, but who cares?

(Newser) - Critics of the Treasury’s $700 billion bailout—and there are so many of them these days—grouse that it’s done nothing but line the pockets of undeserving bankers. “Maybe I’m missing something,” writes Steven Pearlstein of the Washington Post, “but I don’t see...

Madoff Scam Proves Wall St. Incompetence

OPINION

Dec 17, 2008 2:20 PM CST

Madoff Scam Proves Wall St. Incompetence

Drastic regs needed, and be sure financial firms will resist

(Newser) - If the Bernard Madoff scandal teaches us anything, it’s that Wall Street’s masters “aren’t just too clever by half,” writes Steven Pearlstein in the Washington Post, “they’re not clever at all.” They didn’t just get “bamboozled by a con artist,...

What a Detroit Bankruptcy + Bailout Should Look Like

OPINION

Nov 19, 2008 10:14 AM CST

What a Detroit Bankruptcy + Bailout Should Look Like

And what the bailout might look like

(Newser) - Barack Obama isn’t in the Oval Office yet, but he’s already passed his first presidential test “with flying colors,” in Steven Pearlstein’s book. With Democrats ready to roll over for the not-so-big three, and Republicans stonewalling, Obama broke the stalemate with just the right bankruptcy-then-bailout....

How Hank Paulson Blew $125B

OPINION

Oct 31, 2008 9:15 AM CDT

How Hank Paulson Blew $125B

The banks have the cash, but why is everyone surprised they're not lending?

(Newser) - Not too long ago, critics from left and right were clamoring for Hank Paulson to abandon his plan buy up toxic mortgage-backed securities at auction to unlock credit markets. Instead, they argued, the government should give money directly to banks for them to lend. Too bad Paulson listened, writes Steven...

Panic Has Passed,
but We Haven't Hit Bottom

Analysis

Oct 15, 2008 11:00 AM CDT

Panic Has Passed, but We Haven't Hit Bottom

Get ready for a long recession

(Newser) - The most panicky phase of the global financial crisis is likely over, thanks to the combined efforts of the world’s governments, writes Steven Pearlstein in the Washington Post. But don’t “confuse this moment of calm with a stock market bottom or a sign that a serious recession...