March 2009

Stories I'm watching tomorrow (Friday): House passes the 90% bonus tax provision But is it even constitutional? Back taxes are more than the AIG bonuses Historic Greenbrier Resort falls victim to downturn Billionaire Wilbur Ross considering buying up some reinsurers Could HP scuttle IBM's deal for Sun? A rare piece ... read more

All of this talk about bonuses, taxing bonuses and legislative changes got me thinking (dangerous, I know). Most of Congress has a law degree and many were (highly paid) lawyers in a previous life.   Every firm that has received TARP money has a fleet of lawyers working for them.    Both to make sense of all the changes, fight against some of the changes, defend the company, etc.  You ... read more

The latest money-losing company to announce its top executive is getting a bonus despite losing billions?    The U.S. Post Office. From Fox News: As the U.S. Postal Service considers cutting delivery service in the face of dwindling mail volume and rising costs, the postmaster general received a big pay raise and a performance bonus last year, all authorized by ... read more

FYI - I will be hosting "Money for Breakfast" this Thursday and Friday. Check it out from 7-10am. Courtesy: Mint.com Stories I'm watching this Thursday: Mortgage rates should fall as Fed steps in to buy Treasurys One guy says the Fed must be crazy Cool way to put $1 trillion dollars into perspective AIG mess may help the GOP At least one ... read more

Imagine if the entire city of Indianapolis couldn't be certain it would be able to get to where it needed to go that day.   We're talking every man, woman and child - about 800,000 people - having to be concerned daily about whether they would make it to work and school anywhere near the time they needed to be.  That's what's happening on New Jersey Transit more and more these days. The ... read more

Stories I'm watching this Tuesday: Let's take bets on which state is last to put up its stimulus plan webpage (14 still haven't) If housing is the big crisis, why is California spending 19x more on human services? The auto task force doesn't want a GM or Chrysler bankruptcy Liz Mac's take on AIG Brooking's Institute paper on getting small business going More companies having ... read more

I am going to stick my neck out on the always unpredictable NCAA college basketball tournament and pick a final four and ultimate winner. Since my Va Tech Hokies are relegated to the NIT tourney again, I have no skin in the game but like millions of others will no doubt be filling out a bracket. My final four: Louisville Memphis Pittsburgh Oklahoma The championship game should ... read more

Stories I'm watching this Monday: Ben Bernanke details our financial problems Question of the week: will Treasury buy treasury bonds? Small business may finally get their bailout The importance of cities to the national economy Gambling is not recession proof The brokest generation One economists believes the protectionist push will be ... read more

Stories I'm watching this weekend: Geithner tells Fox Business that G20 meeting went well What to watch this week in the markets Bernie begging for release after just one night in jail Why I think we should tie Congressional pay to performance AIG execs getting bonuses despite destroying the company Good news for stocks?   Insiders buying shares Poll shows happy ... read more

Barney Frank and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo reportedly want to expand their power to dictating Wall Street on how to pay its employees.  The Wall Street Journal reports that the two are plotting a plan that ties Wall Street pay to the long term performance of the banking firms.   Both apparently believe that government knows what's best for the private sector.    If, as ... read more