Archive for March, 2009

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Dodd Admits Creating Bonus Loophole

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in Bailouts, Banks, Dodd, Senate

Senate Banking Committee Chair Chris Dodd has had better days. Looks like the AIG bonus scandal just found a political whipping boy: Dodd just admitted on CNN that he inserted a loophole in the stimulus legislation that allowed million-dollar bonuses to insurance giant AIG to go forward – after previously denying any involvement in writing [...]

March 18th, 2009 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

40% of U.S. Children Born to Unwed Mothers

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in News

A new look at U.S. births in 2007 revealed some interesting trends, from the good (we’re at the replacement rate), to the not-so good (teen pregnancies are up), to the complicated (40% of births were to women out of wedlock). The 4,317,119 births [in 2007], reported by federal researchers Wednesday, topped a record first set [...]

March 18th, 2009 | Permalink| 8 Comments »

Many AIG Bonus Babies Live In London?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Economy, Money, The World

Perhaps one of the reasons why the administration didn’t think they could challenge the bonuses in the first place? From the Guardian… The company said it was legally obliged to pay traders $165m (£118m) in “guaranteed” bonuses, despite the near collapse of the insurer last September and its subsequent $173bn bailout by US taxpayers. Staff [...]

March 18th, 2009 | Permalink| 8 Comments »

Colbert On “Going Galt” Meme

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in History, Republicans

From the moment I heard Republican hacks like Michelle Malkin start referring to the themes in Rand’s ‘Atlas Shrugged’, I knew it was destined to fail. After all, to think that they don’t understand that the selfishness of the few led us to where we are today conveys a particularly acute brand of ignorance. Still, [...]

March 18th, 2009 | Permalink| 14 Comments »

Newspaupers

By donar | Related entries in Cartoons, Economy, News, Political Graffiti
March 18th, 2009 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

Happy St. Patty’s

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in Cool, Culture

So, today’s the day we celebrate the plight of alcoholism in the Irish the fun-loving spirit of the Irish with good beer and good friends. Here’s some factoids from a guy with a bit of the Irish in him: Over 35 million Americans have Irish blood. But the rest of you are welcome to wear [...]

March 17th, 2009 | Permalink| 1 Comment »

AIG bone heads

By donar | Related entries in Bailouts, Business, Cartoons, Economic recovery, Economy, Political Graffiti
March 17th, 2009 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

Robert Gates Leads The Charge To Cut Costly Weaponry

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Military, Money

A new type of threat requires new ways of combating it. Thankfully our Defense Secretary is leading that charge with some needed changes to the Pentagon’s budget. From Boston.com: WASHINGTON – As the Bush administration was drawing to a close, Robert M. Gates, whose two years as defense secretary had been devoted to wars in [...]

March 17th, 2009 | Permalink| 6 Comments »

Credit Card Defaults At 20 Year High

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Banks, Economy

Too much easy credit, not enough income and scant capitalization have created yet another perfect storm. From Reuters: AmEx, the largest U.S. charge card operator by sales volume, said its net charge-off rate — debts companies believe they will never be able to collect — rose to 8.70 percent in February from 8.30 percent in [...]

March 17th, 2009 | Permalink| 6 Comments »

Obama Angry at AIG

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in Bailouts, Banks, Barack

AIG’s decision to pay out bonuses despite the financial company’s massive troubles has angered a lot of people. Place the president in the angry category. Joining a wave of public anger, President Barack Obama blistered insurance giant AIG for “recklessness and greed” Monday and pledged to try to block it from handing its executives $165 [...]

March 16th, 2009 | Permalink| 7 Comments »
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