Watch Doug discuss FreePassers™ on FOXBusiness.com.

The G-20 summit was a true public relations success. Despite low expectations, the spin at the close of the conference promoted the concept that there was a consensus among the nations that participated.
The FreePasser Issues Still Remain!
However, despite the public claims of success, serious economic problems underlying the current global financial crisis still remain. These [...]

Last week Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, gave a speech to a group of institutional investors in which he called for new pay standards and regulation of hedge funds and private equity groups.
Back to the Future
When it comes to Wall Street pay standards, it might be called “Back to the Future.” These pay arrangements [...]

The main justification for all the government bailouts seems to be that the economy cannot survive without them and, that if properly handled, the desired result can be achieved with minimal if any cost to the taxpayer.
The Example of the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC)
Many use the Resolution Trust Corporation as an example and reference that, [...]

There has been tremendous anger over government money being used to pay bonuses to executives in many of the companies receiving government bailouts. We saw this recently in the cases of American International Group (AIG) and Merrill Lynch. The amounts become massively larger when you consider creditors, such as the Credit Default Swap counter-parties in the [...]

I have noted before that the FreePasser epidemic has permeated every aspect of our society. However, the recent disclosures of the use of government bailout money for bonuses at American International Group (AIG) astound even me. It turns out that the taxpayer bailout money was used to pay bonuses of about $450 million to a [...]

There is a passionate discussion going on about the government bailout and its costs. Some say that there should be no bailout, and that the the taxpayer is being unfairly stuck with the cost. Some believe that the financial system should be allowed to operate without interference - that, ultimately, the free market will prevail. On the other [...]

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, President Obama has proposed a plan to assist mortgage borrowers suffering from falling home prices and unaffordable monthly payments. It would allow those with minimal or no equity to refinance their mortgages at lower interest rates to bring their payments more in line with their income.
Anger [...]

 
The government has announced plans to rescue the banking system, to stimulate the economy, and to prevent mortgage foreclosures. These programs have generated many questions regarding their implementation and efficacy. However, the really big question that no one in Washington, D.C. seems to be asking is, Who picks up the tab for the cost of all of these programs?
Bringing up [...]

Some people have claimed that accountability in the public sector is even more difficult than the private sector because of the degree of bureaucracy involved. This is the primary reason that many are pushing for increased privatization of government services.
History has shown that there are limits to the degree of privatization that society will accept, so we [...]