Elizabeth Warren, as everybody knows, is a Harvard Law School professor. She was also the chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel, which oversaw the implementation of TARP, and she was tasked by the Obama administration to set up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a powerful government agency established under the Dodd-Frank Act. Now she’s running for the Senate in Massachusetts, a seat held by Republican Scott Brown. One of the planks in her platform is the reinstatement of the Glass-Steagall Act, a depression-era law partially repealed under Bill Clinton in 1999. With the recent news about a $2 billion loss at JP Morgan Chase, she was on NPR over the weekend saying that Glass-Steagall should be reinstated in order to prevent losses like that. If ... Continue reading →

Enlarge Mark Lennihan/AP JPMorgan, the largest bank in the United States, is seeking to minimize the damage caused by a $2 billion trading loss, disclosed earlier this month. Mark Lennihan/AP JPMorgan, the largest bank in the United States, is seeking to minimize the damage caused by a $2 billion trading loss, disclosed earlier this month. Following JP Morgan's disclosure of a $2 billion loss, a small but increasingly vocal group of lawmakers and economists are arguing that a 60-year-old piece if financial legislation should never have been repealed in 1999. They say the law, known as the Glass-Steagall Act, was so consequential that there's a direct link between its repeal and both the 2008 financial meltdown and JPMorgan's huge loss. Congress passed the Glass-Steagall Act ... Continue reading →

Enlarge Deborah Kogan The photo Deborah Kogan posted on Facebook of her son, Leo, when he became sick in May of 2011. Deborah Kogan The photo Deborah Kogan posted on Facebook of her son, Leo, when he became sick in May of 2011. At first, Deborah Kogan of New York says, she thought it would pass. Her 4-year-old son's fever had been on the rise for hours, and he was looking puffy. Kogan took Leo to the pediatrician, who thought it might be strep throat. It wasn't. A few days later, Leo "woke up and he looked as if he was one of the characters in the Nutty Professor. His face ballooned about twice its normal size." She posted a photo of Leo on Facebook. ... Continue reading →

Missed All Things Considered this weekend? Don't sweat it! While you were out enjoying your weekend, the team was putting together a killer set of Saturday and Sunday shows. Here's the best of what you might've missed, from in-depth cover stories to quirky science, from thought-provoking author interviews to rockin' performance chats. Listen from this page — or subscribe to the podcast. Continue reading →