Okay, so every once in a while you do a cartoon that events overrun. Papandreou dropped the referendum idea after the opposition party said it would support the bailout. Now talks are underway for a coalition government, assuming Papandreou survives tomorrow’s no-confidence vote, which could throw the whole thing into disarray again. At any event, [...]

A day after Europe agreed on a bailout plan for Greece, the Greek government, reeling from the unpopularity at home of the deep austerity moves the deal imposes, decided to put the whole thing to a referendum of the voters. The outcome, if the vote is allowed to happen, is pre-ordained, and will throw world [...]

I tried to imagine how it must feel to be one of those Wall Street bankers who stand to make tens of millions in bonuses from bailout money after nearly bringing the world’s economy to its knees. I know I’d feel too guilty to take the money, so I could only speculate that these guys [...]

A year later, and the folks who gave us the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression are back at it. You’d think that the debacle would have given them at least a small does of humility, but no. Having been bailed out with hundreds of billion of the public’s money, they’re rewarding themselves for [...]

The next test of the administration is the huge bonuses due to Citi employees. Citi, as you may recall, was the recipient of tens of billions of taxpayer bailout money. One trader, Andrew J. Hall, is contractually due a $100 million bonus all by himself. Will Geithner, et al, have the courage to oppose these [...]

Goldman Sachs has recovered quite nicely from the recession they helped create. They’ve paid back the bailout money already, and freed from the strings that came with it, they’re rewarding themselves for their business prowess with executive compensation above pre-crash levels. How did they do it? By being smarter than the other banks. Oh, it’s [...]

So now the banks that took the bailout money want to give it back as fast as they can. Why? Surely not because they’re suddenly solvent. No, not exactly. The big boys are chafing at the rules that come attached to the money–more transparency in how they do their business, and limits on the bonuses [...]

Okay, so tell me this: why is Rick Wagoner forced out at GM, when all those bankers who destroyed the world’s economy get to stay? Not that he doesn;t richly deserve the old heave-ho. After all, during his reign he presided over a massive decline in market share and value of the company. As Obama [...]

A line in Dashiell Hammett’s great detective novel, The Thin Man, keeps coming back to me. About a particularly toxic family she and Nick Charles have become involved with, Nora asks, “Are they the first of a new race of monsters?” Could there be a more apt description of the contemporary lords of finance, this [...]