Fed Defies Transparency Aim in Refusal to Identify Bank Loans  —  Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.

Under Obama, Web Would Be the Way  —  CHICAGO — Armed with millions of e-mail addresses and a political operation that harnessed the Internet like no campaign before it, Barack Obama will enter the White House with the opportunity to create the first truly “wired” presidency.

G.O.P. Dog Days?  —  Just before midnight on Nov. 4, I wasn't that worried.  —  Sure, the election results had been bad — but they weren't devastating.  Obama wasn't winning the popular vote by double-digit margins, as some polls had suggested he might.  Republican losses in the Senate …

A Quiet Windfall For U.S. Banks  —  With Attention on Bailout Debate, Treasury Made Change to Tax Policy  —  The financial world was fixated on Capitol Hill as Congress battled over the Bush administration's request for a $700 billion bailout of the banking industry.

Franklin Delano Obama?  —  Suddenly, everything old is New Deal again.  Reagan is out; F.D.R. is in.  Still, how much guidance does the Roosevelt era really offer for today's world?  —  The answer is, a lot.  But Barack Obama should learn from F.D.R.'s failures as well as from his achievements …

Obama planning US trials for Guantanamo detainees  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - President-elect Obama's advisers are quietly crafting a proposal to ship dozens, if not hundreds, of imprisoned terrorism suspects to the United States to face criminal trials …

Biden's new role: Good cop  —  A few days before the election, a Democratic strategist privately worried that a Vice-President Joe Biden was destined for a White House career of dissatisfaction and idle-hands mischief.  —  “You can't just have a guy like him at loose ends, he'd go crazy,” …

Jamie Gorelick  —  As he prepares to take office, President-elect Barack Obama is relying on a small team of advisers who will lead his transition operation and help choose the members of a new Obama administration.  Following is part of a series of profiles of potential members of the administration.

The Polls Show That Reaganism Is Not Dead  —  Barack Obama won the White House by campaigning against an unpopular incumbent in a time of economic anxiety and lingering foreign policy concerns.  He offered voters an upbeat message, praised the nation as a land of opportunity …

A Trolleybus Named Desire  —  Someone in comments quipped sarcastically when he read I was going to be in Geneva that he was looking forward to jejune commentary on Geneva public transit.  I don't really know what jejune means, but it doesn't sound good.  At any rate, as this alert fellow noticed …

The myth of poor Democratic performance in House races in the 2008 election  —  There's an idea going around that the Democrats turned in a disappointing performance in Congressional races this year.  For example, a politically-minded friend of mine of the liberal persuasion wrote …

Race in 4th is over, but not ill will  —  After a bitter campaign, the GOP's Marilyn Musgrave has yet to congratulate Democrat Betsy Markey or concede.  —  Bitterness generated by the bruising battle between Betsy Markey and Marilyn Musgrave apparently lingers days after voters decided the winner of the 4th Congressional District.

From tight to tighter: Franken now just 204 votes behind  —  Al Franken's deficit just keeps on shrinking as the state adjusts the unofficial tally in the U.S. Senate election last week.  —  Today's latest results show the DFL challenger is now trailing Republican incumbent Norm Coleman by 204 votes.