Treasury Learned of AIG Bonuses Earlier Than Claimed  —  Though Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told Congressional leaders Tuesday he only learned of the impending $160 million bonus payments to members of AIG's troubled financial products unit March 10, sources tell TIME that the New …

Dodd facing fresh political firestorm  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) looks like he may be facing a fresh political firestorm.  —  Dodd just admitted on CNN that he inserted a loophole in the stimulus legislation …

On the Fed's “Shock and Awe”  —  When some deemed the Fed's move today to expand its balance sheet by as much as a trillion dollars plus as “shock and awe”, I recalled that when that term was first used, at the beginning of the US invasion of Iraq.  The notion was a display of superior force would lead to quick capitulation.

Dissecting the A.I.G. Bonus Contract  —  Washington is filled with outrage over the $165 million in bonuses given out by the American International Group.  Yet, as I said in my post on Tuesday, “Seven Sad Truths About A.I.G.,” the real concern over the insurance giant should be about the $170 billion …

Detainees May Be Released in U.S.  —  WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder said some detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, may end up being released in the U.S. as the Obama administration works with foreign allies to resettle some of the prisoners.

President Takes Campaign for Budget to California  —  COSTA MESA, Calif. — President Obama, escaping the mounting uproar in Washington over executive bonuses at the American International Group, came here Wednesday for a raucous town-hall-style meeting where he promised that his $3.6 trillion budget …

How Jon Stewart Went Bad  —  Inside Fritzl's Dungeon by Barbie Latza Nadeau  —  Blogs and Stories  —  There is a virtual ban on criticism of him in the press.  Uncritical praise corrupts absolutely.  —  Jon Stewart's recent attack on CNBC's Jim Cramer was so brilliantly performed …

EXCLUSIVE: Obama's $500,000 book bonanza  —  Deal reached 5 days before he took office  —  As he empathized with recession-weary Americans, President Obama arranged in the days just before he took office to secure a $500,000 advance for a children's book project, a disclosure report shows.

GOP hopes bonuses are election issue  —  Republicans are hoping to make the American International Group bonuses a major issue in the special election between Republican James Tedisco and Democrat Scott Murphy in New York's 20th District.  —  The National Republican Congressional Committee …

Is There an Antidote to the Republican Amnesia?  —  Memory eventually fails us all, but apparently the decline strikes one party far more than the other.  —  In recent weeks, my friends across the aisle have expended a lot of breath proclaiming that the Democrats caused the present financial crisis …

Put Down the Pitchforks!  —  I am starting to be genuinely worried by the potential destructiveness of a growing torch-and-pitchfork mentality that is partly the result of cynical manipulation, partly a result of failures of understanding, and partly the result of perfectly justified by presently misdirected anger.

Anger in Pakistan at US plan to expand attacks  —  • Pentagon urges Obama to widen reach of strikes  —  • Islamabad warns of public backlash against move  —  Pakistan reacted with anger yesterday to an American proposal to expand its drone missile strikes inside the country against Taliban and al-Qaida targets.

The Next AIG Scandal?  —  The firm's problems may extend to its ‘healthy’ insurance side. … Outrageous.  It's the preferred adjective used by Barack Obama and Ben Bernanke to describe AIG, the crippled giant that has turned into a national money pit.  AIG has swallowed at least $170 billion …

President to pioneer chat on late-night TV  —  President Obama hasn't been practicing one-liners, but he is going Thursday night where no sitting president has gone before: to a late-night comedy show.  —  Obama plans to be a guest on NBC's The Tonight Show With Jay Leno at 11:35 p.m. ET.

They Were Against It Before They Were For It  —  This week, Republican leaders have leapt to join the populist outcry against the bonuses that ailing insurance giant AIG has awarded its executives.  But such rants against executive earnings mark a remarkable about-face for the right flank of the party …