U.S. Approves Plan to Help Citigroup Cope With Losses  —  Federal regulators approved a radical plan to stabilize Citigroup in an arrangement in which the government could soak up billions of dollars in losses at the struggling bank, the government announced late Sunday night.

Democrats' Stimulus Plan May Reach $700 Billion  —  Spending Package Could Rival Financial System Bailout  —  Facing an increasingly ominous economic outlook, President-elect Barack Obama and other Democrats are rapidly ratcheting up plans for a massive fiscal stimulus program that could total …

Forbes: Paulson is ‘worst’ treasury secretary in modern times  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Forbes magazine President and CEO Steve Forbes called Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson “the worst treasury secretary we've had in modern times”, citing, among other things, the government's handling of the housing crisis.

Admit We Don't Know  —  “In my view it has to be between five and seven hundred billion dollars,” proclaimed Senator Charles Schumer Sunday on ABC's “This Week.”  The “it” is the economic stimulus package the new Congress intends to send to the new president, Barack Obama, in January.

Obama skips church, heads to gym  —  President-elect Barack Obama has yet to attend church services since winning the White House earlier this month, a departure from the example of his two immediate predecessors.  —  On the three Sundays since his election, Obama has instead used his free time to get in workouts at a Chicago gym.

As President Bush's Term Comes to an End, Some Well-Known Offenders Seek Pardons  —  With a backlog of applications piled up at the Justice Department, high-profile criminals and their well-connected lawyers increasingly are appealing directly to President Bush for special consideration …

Media Notes: An Interview With Outgoing White House Press Secretary Dana Perino  —  The network stars were gone, the seats half empty and the questioning low-key as Dana Perino held a White House briefing last week, her biggest announcement that the administration would try to ease air traffic for the holidays.

The Fed Is Out of Ammunition  —  A discredited dollar is a likely outcome of the current crisis.  —  With an estimated $4 trillion in housing wealth and $9 trillion in stock-market wealth destroyed so far in the United States, there is little doubt that we are witnessing a classic debt-deflation bust …

The Golden Straitjacket Of Foggy Bottom  —  My positive take on Clinton at State in the Sunday Times: … (Photo: Brendan Smialowski/Getty.)

Projection: Franken to Win Recount by 27 Votes  —  As we wrote yesterday evening, the ever-increasing number of challenged ballots in Minnesota is making it more and more difficult to determine the extent to which Al Franken is in fact gaining ground in the state's recount process.

CAIR Sued by Former Clients for Racketeering, Fraud, & Breach of Fiduciary Duties  —  For more information:  —  David Yerushalmi, Esq.  —  Law Offices of David Yerushalmi  —  ContactYerushalmiLaw@verizon.net  —  646.262.0500  —  Washington, DC: Four clients of the Council …

Grim and Grimmer  —  As bleak as the fate of the Big Three is looking at the moment, and life for the autoworkers, and their various suppliers, the picture has been steadily getting even darker on the possible alternative jobs front.  —  Some had hoped that the makers of agricultural machinery …