Bonuses Through the Roof: Great Year for Wall Street, Even if You Aren't In On It

November 9, 2009

Three ex-TARP firms will hand out $29.7 billion in bonuses: “That’s up 60 percent from last year and more than the previous high of $26.8 billion in 2007. The money, split among 119,000 employees, equals $250,400 each, almost five times the $50,303 median household income in the U.S. last year.”

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On the Health Care Bill, Costs are Key as Job Losses Mount

November 9, 2009

Fred Hiatt on CBO’s inability “to ask whether Congress will truly cut hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicare programs in coming years, as the House bill assumes. History suggests that legislators will not be deaf to the complaints of seniors and those who treat them when it comes time for the axe to fall.”

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After Narrow Passage, House Health Care Bill Has Nowhere to Go in Senate

November 9, 2009

“If a government plan is part of the deal, ‘as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote,’ said Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent whose vote Democrats need to overcome GOP filibusters. ‘The House bill is DOA in the Senate,’ Sen. Lindsey Graham said dismissively.”

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The Berlin Wall Anniversary: Reagan's Four Little Words

November 9, 2009

“Ronald Reagan would embarrass himself and the country by asking Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall, which was going to be there for decades. So the National Security Council staff and State Department had argued for many weeks to get Reagan’s now famous line removed from his June 12, 1987, Berlin speech.”

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House Passes Health Care Reform Bill, 39 Democrats Vote Against, 1 Republican Votes For

November 7, 2009

Rep. Cao of Louisiana votes Yea, 39 Democrats vote Nay. Democrats argued “CBO projections show their measures, though costing $1.055 trillion altogether, would reduce the deficit by $104 billion through cost containment, taxes and surcharges. But Republicans said costs are likely to grow as federal programs expand.”

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Abortion Issue Resolution Paves Way for House Bill: US Catholic Bishops Back Compromise

November 7, 2009

Obama is visiting the Hill today, pressing for more support for the legislation. “House leaders have won the backing of the nation’s Catholic bishops for a last-minute abortion compromise, a critical boost that could give the health reform bill enough momentum – and enough votes – for passage as early as Saturday.”

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Fort Hood: This is an Attack, Not a Tragedy

November 6, 2009

Major Nidal Malik Hasan was to be deployed to Iraq later this month, apparently his first deployment. “Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone told a late night news conference that the suspect was wounded and in custody… the suspect was not in danger of dying.” This is now a USMJ matter. They have death penalty authority.

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The Revolt in Westchester: Untold Stories of Racial Politics from Election 2009

November 6, 2009

Westchester’s surprising shift came after “county residents felt strong-armed by the federal government and private litigants into a controversial lawsuit settlement on low-income housing that cuts deeply into the county’s tradition of suburban home rule on development issues,” when the incumbent “suggest[ed] that critics of his housing plans were racist.”

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Unemployment Rockets Above 10% For Twenty-Six Year High

November 6, 2009

Economists had projected the jobless rate would exceed 10 percent early next year even as the economy expanded, so this number is surprising. Ethan Harris: “The rise in the unemployment rate is very ugly. This is a big backward step to get this high of an unemployment number this early in the recovery.”

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Three Decades of Subsidized Risk: Those Government-Funded Merchants of Greed

November 6, 2009

“The conventional wisdom as perpetuated in the media is that these bailout mechanisms are unique, designed to ameliorate a once-in-a-lifetime financial “perfect storm.” They are unique, but only in size,” Charles Gasparino writes. Looking back shows “the government has been ready to hand out free money nearly every time risk-taking led to losses.

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