Of course, it’s always about the Benjamins, and it looks like DNC fund raising is picking up now that the primaries are over, going from about $6 million in the prior months, to $22.4 million in June.
What’s more they just set up an independent expenditure division to hammer John McCain with that money.
Two snaps up for Howard Dean.
Well, the head of the House Financial Services Committee is saying that there limits on executive pay and dividends as a quid pro quo for any deal being done.
He’s talking about inserting language into the bill which would require regulatory approval of senior executive pay, and that any government purchased stock would be first in line for dividend payments.
Additionally, he’s looking at language to explicitly tie any monies involved in the bailout to the Federal Debt limit, which is responsible thing to to.
I think that Frank is one of the 10 best congresscritters out there.
His campaign for Kansas state rep, and he’s clearly inspired by the XKCD online comic.
Throw him $8.34.
He’s using paypal….He should get on act blue.
Rather than asking for explicit his explicit removal, the MDC is now requesting that another mediator in addition to Thabo Mbeki be included in MDC-ZANU-PF talks.
Interestingly enough, it appears that Mbeki’s pathetic performance as mediator is getting some visibility, as you can see in this Washington Post articlediscussing how the South African president’s legacy has been harmed by his embrace of Mugabe.
We no know, as a result of a computer technician selling data he downloaded, about a large number of using Lichtenstein bank secrecy laws to evade taxes.
While Liechtensteiner banking secrecy laws are actually more opaque than those of Switzerland, it has always been Swiss banks that have captured the public imagination when it came to the rich laundering money, and we are now seeing revelations regard Swiss banking giant UBS was helping its clients launder money, though this time it appears the discovery happened the old fashioned way, employees have been caught, and they are flipping to prosecutors for consideration on sentences.
Senator Carl Levin is now calling for regulators to revoke the banking license UBS American operations.
His call may have little bite, as UBS has revealed that it intends to wind down its US private banking operations.
It intends to stop taking new customers immediately, and wind down the rest of its services over time.
Wachovia Securities, until last October A.G. Edwards, was raided by regulators from Missouri, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and a, “sixth state that asked not to be identified”, today. In addition, some number more than a dozen employees of the firm were subpoenaed.
It appears that they had some questions about the collapse of the auction rate securities market, and Wachovia refused to respond to queries.
I expect to see a lot more of this as the markets swirl down the drain.
Weekly unemployment filings are up 16K from last week, which is not good, but better than forecast, though, as I’ve said before, the weekly data is noisy and not very useful.
On the other hand, the Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey is definitely downbeat, though not as grim as I would have anticipated.
China has problems. While its growth rate slowed to only 10.1% annually(!), inflation remained well above 7%.
Honestly, I think that the fix here is simple, let the Yuan rise some, which would decrease the relative cost of imported energy, and slow exports to cool down the economy, but I do not expect the Chinese central bank to do this.
Housing starts jumped 9.1%, only because of change in NY City building codes, allowing for more multi-residential building. Otherwise it would have been -4%, and construction of single-family homes dropped by 5.3%, hitting a 17 year low.
Seeing as how the Europeans have inflation concerns too, and are talking about ratcheting up rates, it;s not surprising that the dollar fell today.
Oil continues its slide, dropping below $130/bbl for the first time in over a month, though retail gasoline holds at yesterday’s record.
OK, maybe the next time I fly, I walk instead.
Some US Air pilots requested additional fuel be loaded into their aircraft in order to have more reserves upon landing. US Airways retaliated:
But US Airways recently crossed the line when it ordered eight pilots who requested “an extra 10 to 15 minutes worth of fuel” to attend training sessions, or “check rides,” that could put their pilot licenses in jeopardy, Ray said. The pilots were supposed to report for their training sessions Wednesday, he said.
So, we have bankruptcy, pay cuts for the workers, massive bonuses for the executives, and now attempts to eliminate safety margins on fuel loads, because you have to burn some of that fuel to carry that fuel.
And all the while, I though that Ashcroft was one of the Evil Minions™
It turns out that in early 2003, John Ashcroft refused to appoint torture memo author John Yoo to head the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel, which had among its roles certifying interrogation techniques as legal, and there was a major blowup on this.
It was eventually settled with a compromise on Jack Goldsmith, who promptly review Yoo’s work and put a big red BS on it.
In the latest Rasmussen Reports™ poll Jeff Merkeley has taken the lead, 43% to 41%, over Gordon Smith (R), the incumbent.
Smith has been below 50%, which is trouble for an incumbent, for some time, but I think that this is the first time that he has been shown in the lead.
His lawyers are requesting an injunction for two reasons:
It should be interesting, because Bush and His Evil Minions™ are desperately trying to get these trials scheduled for maximum impact on the November elections.
And the Judge has decided to allow the trial to proceed on schedule.
Remember all those stories about how McCain would out raise Obama in June? Not so much.
Bush has reportedly authorized the State Department to set up a US interests section in Tehran.
Canoodling with the axis of evil, I see.
More seriously, it is a mark of how weak Bush has become on the foreign stage.
Two weeks into the new fiscal year, California has already spent 1/3 of its firefighting budget for the year, and in the home of Proposition 13, the money is not there to cover this.
They are not talking about surcharges on insurance in fire zones and similar methods to cover current and expected shortfalls in the firefighting budgets.
I don’t know how any of this will make it through the state house, where you need a super majority, which requires Republican votes, and they have pretty much pledged to vote against all taxes, and their districts disproportionately benefit from the firefighting efforts.
So the MDC nd ZANU-PF have agreed to start negotiations, but the MDC is asking the AU to appoint a second mediator, because they think that Thabo Mbeki is completely in the tank for Mugabe.
The depressing thing is that they are completely right.
Mark Morford is a genius, and his essay, The Remote Control Penis, is some of his best stuff ever.
I have to clean my screen now.
It’s the interviews by the FBI with him and Cheney in the Plame Affair, and Bush is insisting that it’s covered by executive privilige, and Mukasey going along with it.
Simply put, enough is enough. Find Mukasey in contempt, and have the sergeant at arms of the Congress throw his ass in th t cell in the basement of Congress.
While you are at it, get Miers and Bolton in a cell.
It’s kind of detailed, so just go here.
Merrill Lynch’s is saying that the US is fast approaching a point where foreigners will no longer be willing to keep funding our budget and trade deficits.
Well, duh!
That’s why interest rates are going to have to go up in the medium (5 year) term a lot, to keep attracting foreign capital.
A spokesman for the so called “Union State” alliance, is saying that Transdnestr, Abkhazia and South Ossetia might be granted some sort of observer status, possibly followed by full membership.
Needless to say, this would lead to secession from Georgia, and very likely a some sort of hostilities.
This kind of crap is going on because first Bill Clinton, and then George W. Bush ignored commitments to limit the westward expansion of NATO to the reunification of Germany, and so have created what is legitimately viewed by the Russians as a ring of steel around them, complete with a ballistic missile defense system that is better positioned against them than it is against the Iranians.
I don’t think it’s going to happen, but the expansion of NATO really needs to be stopped.