Ezra Klein Archive: Financial Crisis

The government hearts debt

The ongoing economic crisis has been, in every way, a crisis of debt. The banks were brought down by mortgage debt. Wall Street -- and, quite nearly, the economy -- was brought down by leverage. But as James Surowiecki writes,...

Cutting bankers' pay

The Obama administration is getting serious on bankers' pay: The Obama administration plans to order companies that have received exceptionally large amounts of bailout money from the government to slash compensation for their highest-paid executives by about half on average,...

Wall Street Loves Money

It's a bad time for the country, but struggling Americans can take some comfort in knowing that Wall Street is finally having fun again. According to the Wall Street Journal, "major U.S. banks and securities firms are on pace...

PPIP Lives! At Least a Little Bit!

Mike Konczal takes a look at one of the first deals reached by Geithner's half-living PPIP program. The assets, in this case, come from Franklin Bank, a Houston-based lender who failed and got taken over by the FDIC last November....

The Bush Presidency in One Line

Former Bush speechwriter Matt Latimer has a searing look at the final days of the Bush White House in this month's GQ. It begins in the moments at the bottom of the financial crisis, when serious people were saying...

'A Peculiar Moral Code'

Steve Pearlstein took a long, hard look at the Mulligan Club yesterday. "[T]hey were the financiers who earned huge bonuses for creating, trading and investing other people's money in those complex securities that resulted in trillions of dollars in...

Older Entries in This Category »

Trust Matters, and Misleads, Ezra Klein , August 31, 2009

Long Slog or Snapback?, Ezra Klein , August 17, 2009

The Gender Politics of the Financial Crisis, Ezra Klein , August 6, 2009

The Next AIG Problem, Ezra Klein , July 31, 2009

"It Is What's Known in Business as the Invisible Government Scaffolding of the Free Market", Ezra Klein , July 17, 2009

Help for the (One-Time) Homeowners, Ezra Klein , July 17, 2009

Department of Faint Praise, Ezra Klein , July 15, 2009

Deficits Saved the World. But How?, Ezra Klein , July 15, 2009

Stopping Earthquakes, Ezra Klein , July 14, 2009

Worth Thinking About, Ezra Klein , July 10, 2009

Re: The Problem With Financial Commentary, Ezra Klein , July 9, 2009

Lucian Bebchuk on the PPIP, Ezra Klein , July 9, 2009

The Two Sides of the Financial Rescue, Ezra Klein , July 1, 2009

It's All About The Capital, Baby, Ezra Klein , June 30, 2009

The Importance of PIMCO, Ezra Klein , June 23, 2009

Did Alan Greenspan Make a Terrible Mistake?, Ezra Klein , June 19, 2009

A New Spin on the "Giant Pool of Money" Theory, Ezra Klein , June 15, 2009

Speed Read: Tim Geithner and Larry Summers Preview the Summer's Hottest Regulatory Initiative!, Ezra Klein , June 15, 2009

We Love Markets, Says Larry Summers, Ezra Klein , June 12, 2009

Reading Wolf, Ezra Klein , June 12, 2009

Mike Rorty Builds His Own Stress Test, Ezra Klein , June 12, 2009

Was This a Financial Crisis or a Trade Deficit Crisis?, Ezra Klein , June 11, 2009

Is The Administration Embracing a "Lock the Barn Door After the Horses Are Out" Theory of Financial Reform?, Ezra Klein , June 10, 2009

Why Don't We Have DIY Stress Tests?, Ezra Klein , June 10, 2009

Is Larry Summers a Big Meanie? Does It Matter?, Ezra Klein , June 9, 2009

You World in Charts: Stress Test Aftermath Edition, Ezra Klein , June 9, 2009

Should Banks Be Allowed to Repay TARP Funds?, Ezra Klein , June 9, 2009

Should We Care That the Banks Don't Want to Play Ball With Geithner?, Ezra Klein , June 9, 2009

Can The Efficient Markets Hypothesis Survive?, Ezra Klein , June 8, 2009

Has The Obama Administration's Banking Plan Failed?, Ezra Klein , June 8, 2009

Charts and Graphs That Will Finally Make It Clear, Ezra Klein , June 5, 2009

Why You Should Not Treat the Stock Market Like Gallup, Ezra Klein , June 5, 2009

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Interest Rate?, Ezra Klein , June 5, 2009

Clear Thinking on the Financial New World Order, Ezra Klein , June 4, 2009

Derivatives for Farmers, Ezra Klein , June 4, 2009

Geithner's Plan Is Dead, Ezra Klein , June 4, 2009

What Will Become of the Federal Reserve?, Ezra Klein , June 3, 2009

It Could Have Been Worse., Ezra Klein , June 3, 2009

Is This Socialism?, Ezra Klein , June 2, 2009

My Colleagues Like Gambling Metaphors, Ezra Klein , June 2, 2009

Derivatives Defined. Thrice., Ezra Klein , June 2, 2009

A Determinedly Optimistic Post About the TED--Spread, Ezra Klein , June 1, 2009

Department of Good Ideas, Ezra Klein , May 29, 2009

What Does Ben Bernanke Believe About the Financial Crisis?, Ezra Klein , May 29, 2009

Is the Geithner Plan DOA?, Ezra Klein , May 28, 2009

Did Bill Clinton Cause the Financial Crisis?, Ezra Klein , May 28, 2009

How the Banking Industry Is Like Bad Reality TV , Ezra Klein , May 28, 2009

This is What Regulatory Capture Looks Like, Ezra Klein , May 27, 2009

Does The Financial Sector Pollute?, Ezra Klein , May 27, 2009

Is Wall Street Closer to Main Street Than we Thought?, Ezra Klein , May 26, 2009

The Bank of America Surprise, Ezra Klein , May 22, 2009

Should Ben Bernanke Roll the Dice?, Ezra Klein , May 22, 2009

Has TARP Worked Exactly as Planned?, Ezra Klein , May 21, 2009

How the Government Has Made the Banks Into Gamblers, Ezra Klein , May 21, 2009

Can We Make Financial Products as Safe as Toasters?, Ezra Klein , May 20, 2009

How Inequality Accelerated the Financial Crisis, Ezra Klein , May 19, 2009

Credit Default Swaps for Carbon?, Ezra Klein , May 19, 2009

The Repo Market , Ezra Klein , May 19, 2009

The 'Japanese Experience', Ezra Klein , May 18, 2009

The FICO Scores Seemed So Innocent., Ezra Klein , May 18, 2009