Today in the Economy

Meanwhile, over on Wall Street...

WaPo—Top aides to Obama upbraid Wall St.:

Top Obama administration officials sharply criticized Wall Street firms planning to pay big bonuses, pointedly contrasting the soaring profits some financial companies have recorded in recent days with continuing high jobless rates across the country.

The firms are benefiting from government efforts, some initiated by the Obama administration, to stabilize and restore confidence to the capital markets after a global financial crisis that began last year. With their fortunes rebounding, the Wall Street firms plan to pay tens of billions of dollars to executives.

"The bonuses are offensive," Obama senior adviser David Axelrod said Sunday on ABC's "This Week," adding that banks must do more to support lending across the country and should stop their lobbying efforts aimed at blocking the passage of new financial regulations that are being prepared in Congress.

"They ought to think through what they are doing, and they ought to understand that a year ago a lot of these institutions were teetering on the brink, and the United States government and taxpayers came to their defense," Axelrod said. "They have responsibilities, and they ought to meet those responsibilities."

LOL! No one could have predicted that wantonly irresponsible, ethics-challenged, morally reprehensible, profit-driven institutions wouldn't spontaneously begin to Do the Right Thing when handed gazillions of dollars in cash!

Gee, it's almost like the millions of Americans who suggested less bailing out; more legislating tighter regulations were fuckin' right!

Krugman—The Banks Are Not Alright [sic]: "Administration officials are furious at the way the financial industry, just months after receiving a gigantic taxpayer bailout, is lobbying fiercely against serious reform. But you have to wonder what they expected to happen. They followed a softly, softly policy, providing aid with few strings, back when all of Wall Street was on the ropes; this left them with very little leverage over firms like Goldman that are now, once again, making a lot of money."

New York Times—Foreclosures Force Ex-Homeowners to Turn to Shelters: "Only three years ago, foreclosure was rarely a factor in how people became homeless. But among the homeless people that social service agencies have helped over the last year, an average of 10 percent lost homes to foreclosure, according to 'Foreclosure to Homelessness 2009,' a survey produced by the National Coalition for the Homeless and six other advocacy groups. In the Midwest, foreclosure played a role for 15 percent of newly homeless people, according to the survey."