End of Another Big Paper? Boston Globe Prepares to Shutter in 60 Days, NYT Co. Tells Unions "Agree or Else"

May 4, 2009

137-year-old Boston Globe would be the most prominent paper yet to shut down in the midst of turmoil throughout newspaper industry. Appreciate the irony of the famously pro-union (editorially) New York Times Company issuing ultimatums that the Globe’s four unions must “agree to major financial and contract concessions, including the abolition of lifetime job guarantees.”

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Waiting for Bank Stress Test Results, Citigroup and Bank of America Attempt to Raise $10B in Common Equity

May 4, 2009

Waiting for the boiling point, Citigroup is “girding for results” of the Fed’s infamous bank stress tests, and “may try to wring capital from private investors instead of U.S. bailout funds as a way of bolstering equity without ceding control to the govt.” Bank of America, which received $45 billion in government aid, seeks same.

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Forestalling the Wilderness: GOP Tries to Retake the Mantle of the Party of Ideas

May 4, 2009

Rep. Eric Cantor brings together leading Republicans, elected and formerly elected, for massive listening tour. At kickoff, Jeb Bush says “it’s time for the GOP to give up its ‘nostalgia’ for the heyday of the Reagan era and look forward, even if it means stealing the winning strategy deployed by Democrats in the 2008 election.”

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Obama's New Gloss Covers the Same Old Equality of Result

May 4, 2009

VDH deconstructs “Obama’s envisioned brave new world…in the larger context of age-old divides over the nature of Western democratic and liberal society. Nothing that we have seen proposed since January 20 is novel; everything is merely the promise of the past outfitted with a new snazzier veneer of hope and change.”

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Gregg Easterbrook: Jack Kemp was Not Bad for a Republican and a Football Player

May 4, 2009

TMQ and Progress Paradox author describes his relationship with Jack Kemp, and in between comments of the kind you would expect from a Democrat remembering a Republican, recalls Kemp at his best moments, as the champion footballer who became a bright supply sider, urban policy innovator, and ever-optimistic happy warrior for conservatism.

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The Power of the Man at the Head of Monopartisan Washington

May 2, 2009

“With the coming retirement of a Supreme Court justice clearing the way for him to appoint a successor, Obama already is assured a legacy at the top of all three branches of government, executive, legislative and judicial.” He’s the most powerful President since Clinton 1992-3, and he’s already made a more significant impact on America.

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Warren Buffett Faces a Grilling From Investors

May 2, 2009

Today’s meeting of Berkshire Hathaway shareholders ought to be particularly interesting: “Warren Buffett will be under pressure at Saturday’s annual gathering of faithful shareholders to explain his worst year ever, with the usually adoring crowd set to probe the legendary investor on his bargain-hunting strategy, succession plans and views of the crisis.”

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After 100 Days, Obama's Administration Has Financiers Running Country

May 2, 2009

“In hard times, most Democrats think fondly of the New Deal—certainly Obama’s media fans are making the connection—but thus far, he is shaping up less like the 32nd president and more like the 18th, Ulysses S. Grant.” Jim Pinkerton argues “financiers are more solidly in charge now than they were during George W. Bush’s presidency.”

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Desiree Rogers: The Woman Who Runs Brand Obama

May 2, 2009

White House social secretary and former Mardi Gras queen Desiree Rogers understands her position of power: “‘We have the best brand on earth: the Obama brand…Our possibilities are endless.’ Like all brands, the Obama brand has a ‘crown jewel,’ she explains, and that crown jewel is the White House.” The Lincoln Bedroom practically sells itself.

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Vaclav Klaus: Europe's Doing What You're Going to be Doing, And it Ain't Grand

May 2, 2009

Czech President on “fantasy” of new energy economy: “Cap-and-trade can only work by raising energy prices. Consumers who are forced to pay higher prices for energy will have less money to spend on other things. While the individual companies that provide the higher-priced “green” energy may do well, the net economic effect will be negative.”

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