Taxpayers on the hook for $250 billion if Citigroup tanks. This is Lagan from ANP, CEOs of the biggest bailed-out banks finally appeared before Congress. Over the course of a seven-hour hearing, there were remarkably few revealing moments. One, though, stood out. Rep. Alan Grayson, a feisty former prosecutor, dug his claws into Citigroup’s CEO [...]

As widespread and difficult as the recession has become, it’s easy to forget it all began with a housing crisis. Not only is that crisis still ongoing, it still threatens the stability of our economy. The Obama Administration is expected within the next few weeks to announce an initiative of $50 billion or more to [...]

Senator Judd Gregg’s sudden withdrawal as the Commerce Secretary nominee raises some disturbing questions. If, as reports indicate, he was soured by the stimulus bill, we have to ask whether President Obama has killed his hopes for bipartisanship before his presidency is even a month old. By allowing the Democrats, particularly the House Democrats, to [...]

Apparently he didn’t realize he’d be uncomfortable? Huh? From Politico: Republican Sen. Judd Gregg abruptly withdrew his nomination as President Barack Obama’s commerce secretary Thursday, telling Politico that he “couldn’t be Judd Gregg” and serve in the Cabinet. The harsh response from a White House caught off guard: Gregg was the one who asked for [...]

Definitely a blow to Obama right in the middle of the last days of this stimulus package. I don’t know if this will change any Republican votes, but for Gregg to come out so publicly against the stimulus could be incredibly damaging. From LA Times: Well, back to the drawing board on a Commerce Secretary [...]

John Dickerson at Slate points out one of the unfortunate truths behind the stimulus bill: the process didn’t go as President Obama promised. All that election rhetoric about being more thoughtful and more transparent fell to the wayside as our new President chose expediency over all other considerations. If you’re going to spend nearly $800 [...]

“So the stimulus was a political gamble for the White House. But ask yourself what you’d rather inherit: a booming economy that could go nowhere but down, or a struggling economy that could — and we stress “could” — go nowhere but up by 2010?” – MSNBC’s First Read on the stimulus package Here are [...]

I mean, I know most of us realize that things are getting bad fast, but who are these people who think the economy is excellent? Are they just not paying attention? Or are they just kidding? (h/t: Pajama Pundit)

He talks with the folks at Morning Joe. I liked how he didn’t overreact to the Geithner plan. Refreshing to say the least. Thoughts?

The Louisana Governor’s star keeps on rising. From WSJ: Congressional Republican leaders have tapped Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal to offer a counter-address from Baton Rouge following President Barack Obama’a first address to Congress on Feb. 24. The move further fuels speculation that Jindal is a favorite among the Republican establishment as a potential presidential contender [...]

With the price tag going down, TIME finds that several GOPers could sign on to the bill. Here are the names… 1. Ohio Sen. George Voinovich 2. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski 3. Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar 4. Michigan Rep. Fred Upton 5. Delaware Rep. Mike Castle 6. Pennsylvania Rep. Jim Gerlach This obviously won’t make [...]

A few days ago it was at 52%. What was the difference? Well, it looks like it was Obama’s press conference. From Gallup… Ultimately it looks like Dem support has increased significantly, but do note that Independent support still represents a pretty good gauge of what the overall number is. And Republican support actually went [...]

Why? Because it’s the best of the worst…and it’s all bad right now. From FT: China will continue to buy US Treasury bonds even though it knows the dollar will depreciate because such investments remain its “only option” in a perilous world, a senior Chinese banking regulator said on Wednesday. China has used the dollars [...]

Yes, the price tag keeps going down. Now, I’d hope that this would make some of you happy, but I honestly can’t sort through people’s opinions about this anymore. They seem all over the place. And, by the way, that’s not a judgement, just an observation. Me, I just think we need to get something [...]

You want private sector job growth as a result of the new bill? This is an encouraging start: WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama says Caterpillar’s chief executive has told him the company will rehire some laid-off workers if the stimulus bill passes. The heavy equipment maker announced more than 22,000 job cuts last month [...]

But Barry Ritholtz gets it right… Both the NYT and the WSJ seemed to focus on the lack of details as the cause for the selloff. But that conclusion is belied by the “sell the news” reaction immediately as Geithner began speaking. No one could have digested anything iin that milli-second. I have a decidely [...]

What I think is most telling from the following graph is that the tax cuts make up some of the largest pieces of the plan. In fact, the payroll tax holiday is almost bigger than all the spending for infrastructure combined. I hope you can read these, but if you can’t you can always visit [...]

Regardless of the laughter, the more I read and consider Geithner’s plan, the more I think it will effectively address the problems we currently have. But hey, before you go plowing into me, here’s Stephen Pearlstein breaking it down on Hardball… Pearlstein didn’t get a chance to address the relief for homeowners in the proposal [...]

As the stimulus bill works its way closer to completion and the President continues his PR push, many Americans aren’t yet sold on the plan. While a Pew Center Research Poll found 51% support the bill, those numbers have declined from 57% with the biggest drop coming from those who’ve “heard a lot” about the [...]

During his second take-it-to-the-people appearance this morning in Ft. Myers, Fla, President Obama mentioned that “last night, I addressed the nation…” Really? And all along I thought that was supposed to be a press conference, not a speech. But, while every president has tried to use every public forum to make points, the President’s first [...]