memeorandum: Open Letter To The FDIC Ombudsman (Karl Denninger/The Market Ticker)

8:05 AM ET, March 24, 2009

Top Items:

U.S. Seeks Expanded Power to Seize Firms — Goal Is to Limit Risk to Broader Economy — The Obama administration is considering asking Congress to give the Treasury secretary unprecedented powers to initiate the seizure of non-bank financial companies, such as large insurers …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Stop The ACLU, naked capitalism, Angry Bear, MoJo Blog Posts, Talking Points Memo and Pajamas Media

Monica Langley / Wall Street Journal:

Obama Dials Down Wall Street Criticism — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, after months of criticizing Wall Street, has been scrambling to woo top bankers and financiers to back its latest bailout plan. — In recent days, in spite of public furor over huge bonuses paid …

Discussion: Open Left and Gawker

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

MUST READ — There's an eye-opening, perhaps eye-popping, article in tomorrow's Journal ("Obama Dials Down Wall Street Criticism"), the gist of which is that over the last three months Obama and his team have learned that they've got to start respecting Wall Street and the big banks if they want to get anything done.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Bark Bark Woof Woof and Riehl World View

Jackie Calmes / New York Times:
Rescue Plan, With Some Fine Print, Dazzles Wall Street

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, marbury, Gawker, The New Republic and Blogs and Stories

Andrew Ross Sorkin / New York Times:
If Goldman Returns Aid, Will Others?

Discussion: DealBook, Clusterstock and naked capitalism

The Politico:
Reviews are in: Geithner clears the bar

Discussion: The Politico, Associated Press, Hullabaloo, JustOneMinute and The Daily Dish

John / Power Line:

HOW WOULD HE PRONOUNCE “CASSIOPEIA”? — Everyone knows that Barack Obama is lost without his teleprompter, but his latest blunder, courtesy of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, via the Corner, suggests that the teleprompter may not be enough unless it includes phonetic spellings.

Discussion: TigerHawk, The Anonymous Liberal, JustOneMinute and Bark Bark Woof Woof

JSOnline:
Plugged In — At home, at work or on the road, energy writer …

Discussion: The White House, The Sundries Shack, The Corner and TPMDC

Megan Slack / The Huffington Post:

Tammy Bruce Calls The Obamas “Trash In The White House” — Tammy Bruce, guest host for Laura Ingram's radio show, had some harsh words for First Lady Michelle Obama. — Discussing the first lady's visit to a Washington D.C. classroom last week, Bruce incredulously recalled Obama's story …

Discussion: Jack & Jill Politics, No More Mister Nice Blog, Multi Medium, MoJo Blog Posts and Oliver Willis

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Obama seeks filter-free news

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

David Rogers / The Politico:
Bailout reserve casualty of deficit war

Discussion: The Politico, Associated Press and Reuters

The Politico:
Groups push reconciliation option

Discussion: Associated Press

Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Barack Obama Industrial Average: Rising

Discussion: The Politico

Joe Dwinell / Boston Herald:

Poll of change: Obama's job approval slipping to ‘50-50’ — + Recent Articles + Recent Blog Entries + Email + Bio — The honeymoon is over, a national poll will signal tomorrow as President Obama's job approval stumbles to about 50 percent over the lack of improvement with the crippled economy.

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs

Jules Crittenden:

50-50 — Zogby poll due out in the morning will be reporting the Obama admin's latest grim milestone. As many people don't like him as do. Boston Herald: … Maybe, but the vast presidential gaffe repository Obama is amassing can't be helping. The guy's only been in 60-odd days and he's tripped more than Ford.

Discussion: Power Line and Oliver Willis

Jeff G. / protein wisdom:
“A Good Man is Hard to Find,” 2

Discussion: Moe Lane

The Huffington Post:

Michele Bachmann: I Want People “Armed And Dangerous” Over Obama Tax Plan — Controversial Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said this weekend that she wants residents of her state “armed and dangerous” over President Barack Obama's plan to reduce global warming “because we need to fight back.”

Discussion: Buck Naked Politics, Firedoglake, PoliticalBase.com Blog, Dump Michele Bachmann, Riehl World View and Wonkette

Glenn Thrush / The Politico:
Bachmann urges ‘armed’ climate revolt

Discussion: Dump Michele Bachmann

Eric Kleefeld / TPMDC:
Bachmann: I Want People “Armed And Dangerous” Against Energy Tax

Discussion: MyDD, First Draft, Bark Bark Woof Woof and Washington Monthly

Jamil Anderlini / Financial Times:

China calls for new reserve currency — China's central bank on Monday proposed replacing the US dollar as the international reserve currency with a new global system controlled by the International Monetary Fund. — In an essay posted on the People's Bank of China's website, Zhou Xiaochuan …

Discussion: Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Clusterstock, The Moderate Voice, naked capitalism, FP Passport, Newshoggers.com, GINA COBB, NO QUARTER, Below The Beltway, Gateway Pundit, Blue Crab Boulevard and LewRockwell.com Blog

Phil Davis / Financial Times:
Ron Paul: Believer in small government predicts 15-year depression

Discussion: ParaPundit and Don Surber

DealBook:

Cuomo Says Most Huge A.I.G. Bonuses Were Returned — Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced late Monday afternoon that 9 of the top 10 bonus recipients at the American International Group were giving back their bonuses. — He also said 15 of the largest 20 bonus recipients …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, JustOneMinute, New York Post, The New Republic, Gawker, TPMMuckraker, Salon, Liberal Values, Gothamist, Hot Air and Wonkette

New York Times:
$50 Million in A.I.G. Bonuses to Be Repaid

Discussion: Washington Post, Commentary, Blogs and Stories and Below The Beltway

Eric Martin / Bloomberg:

Bank of America's Bernstein Says Sell Bank Stocks After Rally — Investors should sell bank stocks after they rallied 12 percent today because the Treasury Department's plan to buy toxic assets won't stop profits from dropping, Bank of America Corp.'s Richard Bernstein said.

Discussion: NO QUARTER, CNBC, The Other McCain, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Wall Street Journal, Riehl World View, CNNMoney.com, A Blog For All and Weekly Standard

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Canadian defense minister to Greg Gutfeld and Fox News: Apologize; Update: Gutfeld apologizes — In which a YouTube grassroots brushfire explodes into a full-blown international incident. You make the call: Below you'll find the “Red Eye” segment that aired on March 17 followed by MacKay's demand for an apology this morning.

Discussion: Gawker, Raw Story and five feet of fury

Jessica Leeder / Globe and Mail:
Fox News host apologizes to Canada - sort of

Discussion: The Reaction and Balloon Juice

canada.com:
Fox host apologizes for mocking Canadian military

Discussion: VetVoice and BLACKFIVE

Molly K. Hooper / The Hill:

Go back into hiding, GOP begs Dick Cheney — Congressional Republicans are telling Dick Cheney to go back to his undisclosed location and leave them alone to rebuild the Republican Party without his input. — Displeased with the former vice-president's recent media appearances …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Riehl World View

Chris Kelly / The Huffington Post:

Townhall: Michelle Obama is a Bitch, Get It? — Burt Perlutsky was a TV writer a long time ago. Then he aged out of it and became a crank. This wasn't one of those major loses like Steinbeck. Now he writes a column for Townhall.com, the popular website owned by a Christian radio network.

Discussion: Comments from Left Field

Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:

O'Reilly Attacks Me As A ‘Villain’ For Highlighting His Rape Comments — As promised, tonight, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly aired his segment alleging that ThinkProgress caused “pain and suffering” to rape victims. Our unspeakable offense was contained in a March 1 blog post …

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Gateway Pundit, Multi Medium, Jesus' General, Crooks and Liars and ATTACKERMAN

McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Congress isn't feeling much heat from Obama's ‘army’ — WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's army of canvassers fanned out across the nation over the weekend to drum up support for his $3.55 trillion budget, but they had no noticeable impact on members of Congress, who on Monday said they were largely unaware of the effort.

Discussion: Don Surber