What this $5 million mural says about art and finance stewing in the same nihilistic culture pot. By James McElroy.

There has never been a more fiscally clueless team at the top than the Donald and his dimwitted Treasury secretary, Simple Steve Mnuchin. By David Stockman.

Digital First Media's financials — revealed here — show how the company has ridden its deep cuts to nearly $160 million in profits and the highest margins in the business. By Ken Doctor.

Some of the biggest names on Wall Street are warming up to Bitcoin, a virtual currency that for nearly a decade has been consigned to the unregulated fringes of the financial world. The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange has been working on an online trading platform that would allow large investors to buy and hold Bitcoin, according to emails and documents viewed by The New York Times and four people briefed on the effort who asked to remain anonymous because the plans were still confidential.

"The fight over the Bank Lobbyist Act isn't over yet." By Jake Johnson.

Instead of taking on gun control, Democrats are teaming with Republicans for a stealth attack on Wall Street reform. A bill that began as a well-intentioned effort to satisfy community bank grievances has instead sparked fears that Washington is paving the way for the next financial meltdown. By David Dayen.

The LIBOR scandal is one of the biggest financial scrams in history. In his new book, journalist David Enrich unravels what went down.

European shares remained lower, while losses for MSCI’s widely tracked 47-country world index broke $4 trillion. “The choppiness this morning is trying to figure out where we should be. Some of what we saw yesterday suggests we are near at least a short-term low,” said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Robert W. Baird in Milwaukee.

The technicals on bitcoin appear to be shifting slightly after a brutal January. “If you see the trend line over the first month, a 40% correction was baked in,” said one hedge fund analyst. “We’ll need to see if February provides a dead-cat bounce or a floor for the price,” he added.

Along with the entire the military-industrial complex. By Andrew J. Bacevich.

Consolidation is often seen as a consumer problem. But it may also reduce competition for workers, especially outside big cities, holding down wages. By Noam Scheiber, Ben Casselman.

Fake grass roots. An inflatable rat. Testimony with hidden ties. Billionaires are using DCI Group to make their bets pay off—while keeping the public in the dark. By Zachary Mider and Ben Elgin.

The president ran against debt predators, drug makers and big banks – once elected, he immediately got in bed with all of them. By Matt Taibbi.

The new acting head of the U.S. consumer finance watchdog is reviewing whether Wells Fargo & Co should pay tens of millions of dollars over alleged mortgage lending abuse, according to three sources familiar with the dispute. By Patrick Rucker, Pete Schroeder.

Is there someone, sitting in a comfortable chair somewhere, flipping a coin from time to time, deciding what happens in the world? By Puzhong Yao.

One of the very first meetings Obama had at the White House was with an array of banking executives where he hosted the thieves of Wall Street for a state dinner instead of locking them up in the gulags. By Teodrose Fikre.

Wall Street Fears Trump’s Deranged Tax Plan Means Economic Euthanasia. By William D. Cohan.

Private equity firms overburdened businesses with debt, and now workers are paying the price. Will policymakers do anything about it? By David Dayen.

An Equifax-inspired reform somehow led to big giveaways for banks. There's a reason that bipartisanship is fetishized in Washington. By David Dayen.

A bill from Sen. Mark Warner envisions a future when anyone could get a predatory loan at 380 percent interest. By Zach Carter.