The idea that a diverse global movement would settle on a singular idea on which to move forward isn’t very realistic. The Tea Party never had to do it outside of a bumper sticker like “smaller government.” But the Demands working group at Zuccotti Park is working around to that one demand, and not surprisingly, [...]

Members of the political elite have finally had to confront the question of the #OccupyWallStreet protests and the larger movement for social and economic change that it represents. Sen. Jeff Merkley agreed with the goals of the protesters and their belief that the system is broken, and expressed interest in going to a protest. Ron [...]

It’s clear that European policymakers are bumbling around, mainly because they don’t want to do the only steps that would actually work to end the crisis. Martin Feldstein, the conservative economist, basically gets this right in an op-ed today. It’s not a debt crisis, it’s a banking crisis. And in a larger sense, it’s a [...]

It’s Chuck Schumer Day here at FDL News Desk. Schumer, in addition to smack-talking John Boehner on the debt limit, came out with two policy ideas over the weekend, one abominable and one that has quite a bit of merit. See if you can guess which one got more attention. The abominable one, of course, [...]

It would have been easy to miss this the past few days, given everything going on. But are you aware that a panel of experts basically said regulators should consider a financial transaction tax, as the only way to stop another “flash crash” caused in part by high-frequency trading? Regulators should stem the growing tide [...]

We’re headed into the deficit debate, and one attractive idea has been left on the sidelines – the notion of a financial transactions tax. Most of our stock transactions these days come out of a computer. They offer nothing of value to the public, enhance risk and feed a desire for more dangerous bets that [...]

One of Wall Street’s finest slipped and told the New York Times that the financial reform bill wouldn’t affect their core business to any major degree. Many executives spent the weekend trying to assess the impact of the legislation, which has yet to take final form. With some crucial differences between the House and Senate [...]

Chris Dodd has gone back to the well looking for a Republican partner on financial reform, tapping Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) for negotiations in the hope that something could be worked out that could pass the Senate. Corker is amendable to a Consumer Financial Protection Agency as long as it’s “appropriate consumer protection, but not [...]

Ben Nelson has introduced his profoundly silly bill to deficit-finance the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and just call that borrowing a different name: The United States would begin financing its military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan with war bonds under new legislation introduced Tuesday. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) unveiled the “United States War Bonds [...]

I forgot to file this yesterday, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did discuss at her press conference two ideas which have been generating discussion on Capitol Hill recently. On the war surtax favored by Rep. David Obey (D-WI), Pelosi basically torpedoed the idea. She said “that is his idea, he is speaking for himself,” and [...]

The White House jobs summit is happening right now. You can watch it at WhiteHouse.gov, though I would suggest you not switch over until Tom Friedman is done speaking. The summit itself, featuring dozens of political, media, labor and business leaders, is not quite as important as the momentum for public investment in jobs. And [...]