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Monday, November 24
IHT: U.S. to inject $20 billion into Citigroup
by
Roland, the Gunslinger
on Mon 24 Nov 2008 01:22 AM EST
Under the agreement, Citigroup and regulators will back up to $306 billion of largely residential and commercial real estate loans and certain other assets, which will remain on the bank's balance sheet. Citigroup will shoulder losses on the first $29 billion of that portfolio.
Any remaining losses will be split between Citigroup and the government, with the bank absorbing 10 percent and the government absorbing 90 percent. The Treasury Department will use its bailout fund to assume up to $5 billion of losses. If necessary, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will bear the next $10 billion of losses. Beyond that, the Federal Reserve will guarantee any additional losses.
In exchange, Citigroup will issue $7 billion of preferred stock to government regulators. In addition, the government is buying $20 billion of preferred stock in Citigroup. The preferred shares will pay an 8 percent dividend and will slightly erode the value of shares held by investors.
(H/T to our friend Semra)
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Friday, November 21
The eHarmony shakedown
by
Roland, the Gunslinger
on Fri 21 Nov 2008 05:34 PM EST
Congratulations, tolerance mau-mauers: Your shakedown of a Christian-targeted dating website worked. Homosexuals will no longer be denied the inalienable “right” to hook up with same-sex partners on eHarmony. What a landmark triumph for social progress, eh?
New Jersey plaintiff Eric McKinley can now crown himself the new Rosa Parks — heroically breaking down inhumane barriers to Internet matchmaking by forcing a law-abiding private company to provide services it was never created to provide. “Men seeking men” has now been enshrined with “I have a dream” as a civil rights rallying cry of the 21st century.
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Thursday, November 20
The Waxman Democrats
by
Roland, the Gunslinger
on Thu 20 Nov 2008 10:05 PM EST
John Dingell's fall from power yesterday is an important inflection point in the history of the modern Democratic Party. The House purge marks the final triumph of the Congressional generation that came of political age during the 1970s over the last lion of New Deal liberalism, and it is symbolic of the party's change in culture and policy priorities in the Barack Obama era. Sitting chairmen are nearly impossible to depose
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Wednesday, November 19
Romney: Let Detroit Go Bankrupt
by
Roland, the Gunslinger
on Wed 19 Nov 2008 10:24 AM EST
IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.
Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.
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A Sea of Unwanted Imports
by
Roland, the Gunslinger
on Wed 19 Nov 2008 10:21 AM EST
Gleaming new Mercedes cars roll one by one out of a huge container ship here and onto a pier. Ordinarily the cars would be loaded on trucks within hours, destined for dealerships around the country. But these are not ordinary times.
For now, the port itself is the destination. Unwelcome by dealers and buyers, thousands of cars worth tens of millions of dollars are being warehoused on increasingly crowded port property.
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Monday, November 17
EPA ruling over climate jeopardizes coal plants
by
Roland, the Gunslinger
on Mon 17 Nov 2008 10:46 PM EST
"The bottom line is this leads to delays for coal plants," David Bookbinder, a lawyer for environmental group the Sierra Club.
Delays could be bad news for the industry especially as the United States may soon regulate greenhouse gases as President-elect Barack Obama has promised to do, he added.
A section of the EPA ruling said, "The Board recognizes that this is an issue of national scope that has implications far beyond this individual permitting proceeding."
Environmentalists said the wording opens up the EPA to reconsidering permits in other states.
In a landmark ruling in 2007, the Supreme Court found that carbon dioxide can be regulated as a pollutant under the U.S. Clean Air Act.
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Murdoch to media: You dug yourself a huge hole
by
Riley Jones
on Mon 17 Nov 2008 11:42 AM EST
Murdoch, whose company's holdings also include MySpace and the Wall Street Journal, criticized what he described as a culture of "complacency and condescension" in some newsrooms.
"The complacency stems from having enjoyed a monopoly--and now finding they have to compete for an audience they once took for granted. The condescension that many show their readers is an even bigger problem. It takes no special genius to point out that if you are contemptuous of your customers, you are going to have a hard time getting them to buy your product. Newspapers are no exception."
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Friday, November 14
Reuters: UPDATE 1-U.S. automakers bailout outlook in doubt-senator
by
Roland, the Gunslinger
on Fri 14 Nov 2008 08:31 AM EST
"Right now, I don't think there are the votes," Dodd of Connecticut told reporters about prospects in the Senate. "I want to be careful of bringing up a proposition that might fail," he said.
Although Dodd said "we ought to do something" and personally backed using money from the ongoing $700 billion financial services rescue program to help Detroit, he was skeptical that enough Republicans would support a bailout.
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Thursday, November 13
Bush warns against big government and praises free market and capitalism... The stock market soars during and after speech for the first time since the election.
by
Riley Jones
on Thu 13 Nov 2008 04:17 PM EST
President George W. Bush today urged leaders of the world's biggest economies not to abandon free- market capitalism as they seek an escape from the financial crisis, calling it the ``best system'' for delivering growth.
In a speech at the Manhattan Institute in New York before weekend talks among leaders from the Group of 20 nations, Bush said policy makers should resist the urge to meddle too much in markets as they seek to reverse the financial and economic turmoil now engulfing the world.
(Thanks, Truthache)
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PC World Mag: 5 Reasons I Hope Classmates.com Gets Sued Into Oblivion
by
Riley Jones
on Thu 13 Nov 2008 01:03 PM EST
Have you heard? Someone's suing Classmates.com over those e-mails it's been blasting the world with for the past decade. My reaction? It's about damned time.
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Regulators nix credit card debt forgiveness plan
by
Riley Jones
on Thu 13 Nov 2008 11:01 AM EST
Federal bank regulators have rejected a request by banks and consumer advocates for a program to let lenders forgive huge portions of credit card debt.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency rejected the request for a special program that would allow as much as 40 percent of credit card debt to be forgiven for consumers who don't qualify for existing repayment plans.
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Wednesday, November 12
This is called "Socialism" Can you say that? SO-SHALL-IS-UM. Very good!
by
Riley Jones
on Wed 12 Nov 2008 06:34 PM EST
Congressional Democrats are pushing legislation to send $25 billion in emergency loans to the beleaguered auto industry in exchange for a government ownership stake in the Big Three car companies.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., hope for quick passage of the auto bailout during a postelection session that begins Monday.
(Thanks, Tim)
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Obama Presidential Coin...
by
Riley Jones
on Wed 12 Nov 2008 02:48 PM EST
From our Lady Truthache:
"I saw this advertised on Fox and honestly thought it was satire.
Apparently the coins are a lot like Obama...a shiny new exterior
covering a fake and worthless interior."
$700B bailout enters Second Stage
by
Riley Jones
on Wed 12 Nov 2008 12:29 PM EST
In this second stage of the bailout, officials also hope to attract private capital, possibly through matching investments, to give the government's injections more heft.
Paulson also said the government is no longer planning to buy troubled mortgage assets, the original goal of the plan. And officials are continuing to examine ways to help homeowners and slow the tide of foreclosures.
More>>>
Major Source of Online Scams and Spams Knocked Offline
by
Riley Jones
on Wed 12 Nov 2008 12:08 PM EST
A U.S. based Web hosting firm that security experts say was responsible for facilitating more than 75 percent of the junk e-mail blasted out each day globally has been knocked offline following reports from Security Fix on evidence gathered about suspicious activity emanating from the network.
For the past four months, Security Fix has been gathering data from the security industry about McColo Corp., a San Jose, Calif., based Web hosting service whose client list experts say includes some of the most disreputable cyber-criminal gangs in business today.
More>>>
USA May Lose its AAA Credit Rating
by
Riley Jones
on Wed 12 Nov 2008 10:07 AM EST
Friday, November 7
Surprise, Surprise...
by
Riley Jones
on Fri 07 Nov 2008 11:09 AM EST
"Emanuel Was Director Of Freddie Mac During Scandal; New Obama Chief of Staff, Others on Board, Missed "Red Flags" of Alleged Fraud Scheme."
Amazing how now that the election is over ABC and friends go back to real reporting...
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Thursday, November 6
Obama Stiffs his 'Troops'
by
Riley Jones
on Thu 06 Nov 2008 09:33 AM EST
Lines were long and tempers flared Wednesday not to vote but to get paid for canvassing for Barack Obama. Several hundred people are still waiting to get their pay for last-minute campaigning. Police were called to the Obama campaign office on North Meridian Street downtown to control the crowd.
The line was long and the crowd was angry at times.
"I want my money today! It's my money. I want it right now!" yelled one former campaign worker.
More>>>
Wednesday, November 5
Wall Street Gives President-Elect Obama 'Thumbs Down'
by
Riley Jones
on Wed 05 Nov 2008 01:05 PM EST
The Dow tumbled by triple digits Wednesday as the markets were dragged down just a day after Barack Obama's historic election.
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