Wall Street wrecked the economy, and banks are still refusing to work with people who are trying to stay in their homes. The Campaign for a Fair Settlement, along with other partners,  is calling on President Obama  to champion an agenda that would:

1. Hold bankers accountable for their crimes.

2. Keep people in their homes by resetting their mortgages.

Wall Street wrecked the economy and banks are still refusing to work with people who are trying to stay in their homes. The Campaign for a Fair Settlement, along with other partners, is calling on President Obama  over the next 100 days  to champion an agenda that would:

1. Hold bankers accountable for their crimes.

2. Keep people in their homes by resetting their mortgages.

Sign the petition here . 

This is the second of a four-part series describing what went wrong with America’s economy and how to fix it. See Part 3 tomorrow and read Part 1:  " Tell Us What You Think: What’s Wrong With the U.S. Economy? The Real Scoop " —and please leave a comment to tell us what you think. (Click the chart to enlarge.)

If the short answer is “we’re still recovering from the Crash of 2008,” the long answer is “there was obviously something wrong with the economy long before the Crash of 2008.” 

There were obvious warning signs during the Bush years that should have set off alarm bells.  Most importantly, wages and middle-class family incomes were dead in the water.  The median income for working-age families  started falling in 2000 and never recovered during the 2001-2007 recovery .

This is the first of a four-part series describing what went wrong with America’s economy and how to fix it. See Part 2 tomorrow—and please leave a comment to tell us what you think. (Click the chart to enlarge.)

The Great Recession  officially ended more than three years ago , but working families know there’s still something wrong with the U.S. economy.  If we want to fix our economy, we first have to understand what’s wrong with it. (Click chart on the left to enlarge). 

Starting today, in a series of four posts and infographics, we’ll spell out what we see as the short-term and long-term causes of our economic problems and we’ll point to specific solutions.

The Federal Reserve recently adopted a two percent inflation target, reports Thomas Palley, AFL-CIO senior economic policy advisor. The Fed should be looking at policies that improve wages, not ones that will undercut the possibility of future wage increases and make it more difficult to achieve full employment, Palley writes In an Op-Ed published in the Economists' Forum blog titled, " The Fed's 2% Inflation Target Trap. " 

Thomas Palley , the former Bernard L. Schwartz Economic Growth fellow at the New America Foundation  and former assistant director of public policy at the AFL-CIO, joined us here today at the federation to discuss his new book,  From Financial Crisis to Stagnation: The Destruction of Shared Prosperity and the Role of Economics . The event is the third in the  AFL-CIO summer book series , which includes discussions with noted economists who will talk about their new books on jobs, inequality and the U.S. financial crisis. (Get details and RSVP  here .)

In his new book , Palley sets out to explain the cause of the 2008 financial crisis and what can be done to prevent another economic collapse. Here is a Q and A with the author:

In a surprising change of heart, the ex-CEO of Citigroup, Sandy Weill, backed off his former position that there is nothing wrong with Big Banks.

Politico  reports :

At the height of the Wall Street financial scandal that rocked this country into near economic ruin, bankers were ablaze with greed. To mark the approaching two-year anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act , the think tank Demos has compiled some of the more colorful quotes from this group and challenges you to guess who said them.

If you’re in Washington, D.C., join us at the AFL-CIO for a Friday book series running July 13 through August 3 featuring well-known authors discussing their new books on jobs, inequality and the U.S. financial crisis.

Jeff Faux, Tim Noah, Tom Palley and Simon Johnson will be here for discussions and book signings—and we hope you can join one or more of the events. Bring your lunch and get set for a lively discussion. Beverages will be provided. Books will be available for purchase.