Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Eric Schneiderman, co-chair of the newly titled “RMBS working group” investigating financial fraud, appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show last night (the interview starts around the 5:00 mark), and there were a few interesting moments. First you have his assessment of the the [...]

Now that we know the state of play on the one year-end bill left outstanding, let’s redirect to the one that’s moving through the system currently. The House just passed the omnibus appropriations bill, funding all government agencies through the rest of the fiscal year, until September 30, 2012. It’s on to the Senate, where [...]

It takes the offer of amnesty to get rich people to reveal their offshore bank accounts. Finally, after years of neglect, the IRS has actually bothered to look into all this. But they had to assure the oligarchs that they wouldn’t be prosecuted for tax evasion, of course. More than 12,000 American taxpayers have voluntarily [...]

We now have a CBO report on Harry Reid’s plan, and what once again sticks out is the extreme similarities with John Boehner’s. Remember that the Boehner plan had discretionary spending caps, a “Super Congress” committee to recommend deficit reduction, spending on program integrity for several programs, increases in Pell grants offset by student loan [...]

Friday, I was confounded by this claim from the New York Times: Administration officials said no deal was at hand, and negotiators from the administration and the two parties in Congress met only briefly on Thursday. It is possible that the parties will be unable to reach a compromise, in which case tax rates will [...]

Around 11am et, the Senate will begin a complicated series of votes on the small business bill. First an amendment from Mike Johanns (R-NE), then from Bill Nelson (D-FL), then a substitute amendment on the whole bill from Max Baucus will get cloture votes. If the Johanns amendment clears cloture, there will be 30 hours [...]

I think Slate must have put the New York Times up to this story in their paper today, announcing the contrarian viewpoint that, actually, the Gulf Coast is bouncing back nicely. The immense patches of surface oil that covered thousands of square miles of the gulf after the April 20 oil rig explosion are largely [...]

Witness the face of Teabag Nation, Steve King, invading the physical space of a blogger who asked him a question: TP: It is tax day and you justified the murder of American federal employees at CPAC. KING: Are you accusing me of that? Are you accusing me of that? Turn that camera off. I’m not [...]