Troopergate Opens in New York, Cops and Robbers Come Out

New Yorkers can thank their lucky SARs that X Governor Eliot Spitzer had a thing for hookers. Or more accurately-- for pricey hookers run by international criminals who laundered payments through shell companies. If Spitzer had been doing cheap cash and carry on the streets...

Hillary's Housing Fix in a New York Nutshell

A raw March morning in Albany. The wind whistled round the Empire State Asylum for the Politically Insane. Dr. Edwards, the new chief of staff, was making his first tour of the facility. Dr. Murchison, his predecessor, was acting as guide. First up, the day room....

QAT: Eliot Spitzer's International Mystery Mack

Enough with the sack stuff. The real eye opener about Eliot Spitzer isn't his compulsion to heave ho, but his willingness to disguise payments via an international criminal enterprise that specialized in money laundering. To make matters worse, Governor Spitzer had...

Ben Bernanke Walks into a Bar, Andrew Cuomo Appraises the Nation

Jeez. The Clinton Obama show is killing comedy. Great jokes are getting lost in the sauce. Did you hear the one about Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke? Ben walks into a bar. A pair of antlers on his head. “Been cuckolded, mister?” asks a chippy, trying for a...

Merrill Lynch, Springfield, and the Secret CDO Wasteland

Once upon a time, economic whiz bangs said subprime distress would pass through the financial system like you-know-what through a goose. Subprime was only a relatively small part of the mortgage market and not all borrowers were defaulting. Sure, a few mortgage lenders might...

Obama and Ron Paul Take New York State, Tastee-Freeze Opens in Hell!

Albany. The capital of New York. The heart of state government. Can't you feel the rhythm of the beat? Lub dub lub dub. Pols who make it there, don't need to go anywhere-- they can stay in Albany forever and ever and ever. The governor's mansion is akin to the hotel in “The...

Stimulus Package Store, GSE Jumbo Out Back

Hot damn. The government is going to stimulate the economy. Not with a lap dance or lubricated love glove, but with taxpayer dollars. Come summer, Mister and Miz America will get a rebate from Uncle Sam. What a man! Some people will get more than a thou of their own money...

Santa Sees Albany Sleeping; Mayor Jerry Jennings Saws Wood

A cold deep Christmas Eve in Albany, New York. The downtown of the state capital lies dreaming. A few hardy souls stagger twixt trendy bars with names like “Malice” and “Ptomaine”. A couple of muggers skulk in a bus shelter and an ancient taxi shoots up Broadway,...

Subprime Cottage: Eco-Friendly w. Eminent Domain View

Cast your mind back to Susette Kelo. She and her neighbors in the waterfront neighborhood of Fort Trumbull in New London, Connecticut, had their homes and investment properties taken from them by local government and the quasi-public New London Development Corporation. Poodle...

The Bush Subprime Bailout: Limited Surge or Taxpayer Quagmire?

Ick! The Ownership Society of crap mortgage lending that President Bush pushed so assiduously has gone and done an Iraq on the carpet. Attention taxpayers and homebuyers dumb enough to save for real down-payments. The roar you hear at the door is Dubya with a wallet-sucking...

The Appalachian Summer of Eliot Spitzer

Dear Aunt Millie, You won't believe how much fun the New York State political scene has been this Summer! I know you love the hustle and bustle of North Dakota, and Uncle Ira says he wouldn't move back to stick-in-the-mud New York if its pols paid HIM, but when you hear...

Mortgage Fraud Addicts of the Empire State

Poor mortgage fraud. It still doesn't get the big eyeball. What does a white collar crime have to do to get real paparazzi action? Sleep with an A list celeb and become rehab material? OK. If that's what it takes here goes: according to the FBI, mortgage fraud is hooked up...