Archive for October, 2009
FDIC Friday: 9 More U.S. Banks Fail; $2.5 Billion Hit for FDIC Fund
October 31st, 2009Via: MarketWatch: Nine more U.S. banks, all owned by the same Illinois holding company, were closed Friday by regulators, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said U.S. Bank of Minneapolis would assume their deposits. The closings brought the 2009 total to 115 in 2009 — the first year since 1992 that more than 100 banks […]
A Soldier with the Russian Army in Afghanistan Recounts What They Believed About Their Mission
October 30th, 2009Via: Salon: Lanine was drafted into the Russian Army at the age of 18 and spent several years as part of the Russian occupying force in Afghanistan. Thereafter, he moved to Canada, and in 2006, his wife’s first cousin, a medic in the Canadian Army, was killed in Afghanistan. Lanine wrote this column after attending […]
Dozens in Congress Face Inquiries About Defense Lobbying and Corporate Influence Peddling
October 30th, 2009Via: Washington Post: House ethics investigators have been scrutinizing the activities of more than 30 lawmakers and several aides in inquiries about issues including defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July. The report appears to have been inadvertently placed on a publicly accessible computer network, […]
Chinese-Made Turbines to Fill U.S. Wind Farm
October 30th, 2009Maybe I need a Shame and Embarrassment category. Via: Wall Street Journal: A Chinese wind-turbine company, with financing help from Beijing, has struck a deal to be the exclusive supplier to one of the largest wind-farm developments in the U.S., a sign of how Chinese firms are aggressively capitalizing on America’s clean-energy push. The 36,000-acre […]
U.N. Can’t Account for Millions Sent to Afghan Election Board
October 30th, 2009Via: ProPublica: The United Nations cannot account for tens of millions of dollars provided to the troubled Afghan election commission, according to two confidential U.N. audits and interviews with current and former senior diplomats… As Afghanistan prepares for a second round of national voting, the documents and interviews paint the fullest picture to date of […]
Too Big to Fail List a Secret
October 30th, 2009Via: Reuters: U.S. regulators on Thursday scoffed at the administration’s plan to not publicly identify financial firms the government considers “systemic,” saying such a list cannot remain under wraps for long and federal laws could mandate disclosure. “It’s likely that most, if not all, of the institutions so identified would eventually be known to the […]
More Than 40% of President Obama’s Top-Level Fundraisers Given Posts in His Administration
October 30th, 2009Via: USA Today: More than 40% of President Obama’s top-level fundraisers have secured posts in his administration, from key executive branch jobs to diplomatic postings in countries such as France, Spain and the Bahamas, a USA TODAY analysis finds. Twenty of the 47 fundraisers that Obama’s campaign identified as collecting more than $500,000 have been […]
Trading Note: Bought Deep Out of the Money November Puts on Apple (AAPL)
October 30th, 2009WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any instrument. Just in case a black swan attacks.
Florida Car Dealership: Save Your Cash, Use Your Gold as Down Payment
October 30th, 2009Via: Bob Dance Automotive: Bob Dance Gold Rush Program Take advantage of soaring gold prices! Use your old or unwanted jewelry and gold as DOWN PAYMENT! Save your cash!! $$$$ Precious metal appraisers on site Just another way Bob Dance Automotive makes car buying easy
Stimulus Money Going to Contractors That Are “The Most Egregious Offenders of State and Federal Laws”
October 29th, 2009Via: Washington Post: President Obama and members of Congress told federal agencies earlier this year to avoid awarding funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to contractors with troubled histories of work for the federal government. But that isn’t happening at numerous agencies, a Washington Post analysis shows. So far, 33 federal departments and […]
