Top Items:
United States - Department of The Treasury:
Treasury Department Releases Details on Public Private Partnership Investment Program — The Financial Stability Plan - Progress So Far: Over the past six weeks, the Treasury Department has implemented a series of initiatives as part of its Financial Stability Plan that …
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias, Wall Street Journal, CNNMoney.com, Washington Post, New York Times, The Moderate Voice, Los Angeles Times, The Lede, The Atlantic Politics Channel, The Baseline Scenario, Jack & Jill Politics, CBS News, Salon, AmSpecBlog, The Washington Note, JustOneMinute, DealBook and Political Machine
RELATED:
Timothy Geithner / Wall Street Journal:
My Plan for Bad Bank Assets — The private sector will set prices. Taxpayers will share in any upside. — The American economy and much of the world now face extraordinary challenges, and confronting these challenges will continue to require extraordinary actions.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Politics Channel, The Daily Dish, Bloomberg, The Huffington Post, Fox News, NO QUARTER, The Sundries Shack, The Corner, MSNBC, Washington Monthly, The New Republic, Political Punch, Greg's Opinion, The Washington Note, Reuters, Portfolio, Eschaton, Right Pundits, Donklephant, The Foundry, Below The Beltway, The League of Ordinary …, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Shakesville, Dealbreaker, The Anonymous Liberal, theheretik.us, Betsy's Page, The Swamp, Outside The Beltway and PoliBlog
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Financial Policy Despair — Over the weekend The Times and other newspapers reported leaked details about the Obama administration's bank rescue plan, which is to be officially released this week. If the reports are correct, Tim Geithner, the Treasury secretary, has persuaded President Obama …
Discussion:
The New Republic, Matthew Yglesias, Wall Street Journal, TBogg, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Washington Monthly, MoJo Blog Posts, Hullabaloo, Firedoglake, Washington Post, Guardian, Achenblog, McClatchy Washington Bureau, The Campaign Spot, BuzzFlash.org, The Reaction, Democratic Strategist, Lance Mannion, The Politico, Vox Popoli, Swampland and QandO
John Heilemann / New York Magazine:
Inside Obama's Economic Brain Trust — It's not pretty at this moment. — Tim Geithner boarded the 6 a.m. US Airways shuttle to Washington last Wednesday at La Guardia, slid his rail-thin frame into seat 5C, then stared into the middle distance. Geithner is invariably described as boyish …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog
Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
Timothy Geithner: Making Countrywide Executives Rich Again — Timothy Geithner's new TALF plan, like all his other plans, seems designed to shovel billions into the coffers of the very same bankers who got rich on the mortgage bubble. When the public gets a glimpse of the tip of this giant iceberg …
Simon Johnson / The Baseline Scenario:
Breaking The Bank — My problem with Monday's expected announcement from Mr Geithner doesn't have much to do with the details of the public-private partnership. I doubt this will work, because I don't see the incentive for banks to sell assets at less than the value currently on their books.
Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:
I Was Followed, Harassed, And Ambushed By Bill O'Reilly's Producer — On March 1, ThinkProgress picked up on a story by News Hounds, which noted that Fox News host Bill O'Reilly — who has made controversial comments about rape victims in the past — was slated to speak at a March 19 fundraiser for the Alexa Foundation.
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
HE'S NOT ‘PUNCH DRUNK’.... For a while, the lead story from Politico last night was the idea that President Obama chuckled a little too much during his interview with Steve Kroft on “60 Minutes.” The headline on the piece read, “Kroft to Obama: Are you punch-drunk?”
Discussion:
The Atlantic Politics Channel, Z on TV, RedState, Balloon Juice, Commentary, Gawker, Media Blog and pandagon.net
RELATED:
Alex Knapp / Outside The Beltway | OTB:
Tea Parties, Going Galt, Iraq, and Delicious Irony — I've been following the growing “Tea Party” and “Going Galt” movements with no small amount of amusement, in part because there is really just too much sweet, delicious irony surrounding both of these groups of people (who, I might add, are largely the same people).
RELATED:
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
The Brutal Truth — Alex Knapp: … My sense is that it is a delayed reaction in some ways to Bush, and his betrayal of conservatism. For all sorts of reasons, most of the current tea-partiers backed the GOP under Bush and Cheney, although some, to be fair, did complain about some of it.
ABCNEWS:
JPMorgan Chase To Spend Millions on New Jets and Luxury Airport Hangar — Outraged Critics Decry the Proposal, Call For Bank To Abandon Plans — Embattled bank JPMorgan Chase, the recipient of $25 billion in TARP funds, is going ahead with a $138 million plan to buy two new luxury corporate jets and build …
RELATED:
Andrew Sullivan / Times of London:
Give Obama more time. Then give him hell — The president has had only two months - harsh judgments are premature — The former New York City mayor Ed Koch was renowned for strolling about Manhattan when he was in office, grabbing strangers by the lapel and asking, “How am I doing?”
RELATED:
Jorr / Christian Science Monitor:
Obama writes letter to Chirac - blogosphere goes crazy — Want to know how quickly rumors get spread on the Internet? Here's a prime example. — The right side of the web is apoplectic this morning claiming that President Obama doesn't know who the French president is.
Discussion:
The Volokh Conspiracy, Gateway Pundit, Fausta's Blog, Riehl World View, The Atlanticist and Don Surber
Stephanie Simon / Wall Street Journal:
Texas School Board Set to Vote on Challenge to Evolution — The Texas Board of Education will vote this week on a new science curriculum designed to challenge the guiding principle of evolution, a step that could influence what is taught in biology classes across the nation.
Discussion:
MyDD
Ann Althouse / Althouse:
500 miles later, I'm back in Madison. — Did you understand the previous post? If not, the answer — along with much congratulations and debate — appears in the comments, notably here. Let there be no doubt about it: A blogger — Althouse — is engaged to be married to a man who began …
Discussion:
THE MATERNAL OPTIMIST
Kevin Rennie / Real Clear Politics:
Dodd's Wife a Former Director of Bermuda-Based IPC Holdings, an AIG Controlled Company — No wonder Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn) went wobbly last week when asked about his February amendment ratifying hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses to executives at insurance giant AIG.
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs
Ezra Klein / American Prospect:
The 50-Vote Senate — Could an obscure Senate rule free Barack Obama from the filibuster and enable health-care reform? — It's hard to imagine another town in which the most divisive thing you could do would be called “reconciliation.” But this is Washington.
Steve Kornacki / Politicker NY:
Obama Sells Out a Friend From Connecticut — The thought has surely crossed Chris Dodd's mind more than once these past few days: is this how Barack Obama treats his friends? — When word spread a week ago that A.I.G. had used $165 million in federal bailout money to lavish bonuses …
Bill Carter / New York Times:
Matthews Renews Contract at MSNBC — Chris Matthews, the usually garrulous host of “Hardball” on MSNBC, has quietly signed a new long-term contract to remain with the cable network through the next election, signaling that he had quit entertaining any plans to run for a Senate seat.
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Law Professor Who Advised Obama Says House AIG Bill May Be Unconstitutional — I just got off the phone with Harvard professor Laurence Tribe, who advised Obama during the campaign, and he says he's leaning towards seeing the new House bill to tax back all the AIG bonuses as unconstitutional.
Eric Ostermeier / Smart Politics:
Michele Bachmann on D.C.: “I'm a Foreign Correspondent On Enemy Lines” — During a Saturday afternoon interview on WWTC 1280 AM with The Northern Alliance's John Hinderaker and Brian Ward, Minnesota Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann discussed her staunch opposition to several Democratic-led efforts …
The Huffington Post:
Howard Dean To Become Regular CNBC Contributor — Former DNC Chair Howard Dean will become a regular contributor for the business news network CNBC, a source close to the former Vermont Governor confirms. Dean started his new gig on Monday morning with a guest-hosting appearance on the station.
Discussion:
The New Republic, Think Progress, Washington Monthly, Wonkette, Michael Calderone's Blog and Salon
Guardian:
US to bypass Karzai with Afghan ‘PM’ — White House plans new executive role to challenge corrupt government in Kabul — The US and its European allies are preparing to plant a high-profile figure in the heart of the Kabul government in a direct challenge to the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, the Guardian has learned.
Mark Sherman / Associated Press:
Court weighs double jeopardy for ex-Enron exec — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court appears inclined to bar prosecutors from retrying a former Enron Corp., executive on charges related to financial fraud at the one-time energy giant.
Associated Press:
Unexpected Jump in Home Sales in February — Sales of existing homes rose from January to February in an unexpected lift for the slumping housing market as buyers took advantage of deep discounts on foreclosures. — The National Association of Realtors said Monday that sales …
Mike McGraw / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Stimulus? U.S. to buy Chinese condoms, ending Alabama jobs — Call it a condom conundrum. — At a time when the federal government is spending billions of stimulus dollars to stem the tide of U.S. layoffs, should that same government put even more Americans out of work by buying cheaper foreign products?
Discussion:
Reason
Sarah Lyall / New York Times:
Sweden Says No to Saving Saab, a National Icon — TROLLHATTAN, Sweden — Saab Automobile may be just another crisis-ridden car company in an industry full of them. But just as the fortunes of Flint, Mich., are permanently entangled with General Motors, so it is impossible to find anyone …