States cutting back on executions cuz it's just too darned expensive

Only in America would we turn against capital punishment because it takes too much capital.

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Leading US & European banks receive $50 billion from AIG bailout

What brave examples of capitalism. No wonder the US banks involved haven't been quick to return the TARP money. If they did, how long would they survive? How many bonuses could they afford to pay out?

At least two dozen American and European banks benefited from the bailout of American International Group, with approximately $50 billion paid out to them since the Federal Reserve first gave aid to the insurance giant, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank received about $6 billion between September and December last year, the paper said, quoting a confidential document and people familiar with the matter.

Other banks that received large payouts from AIG late last year include Merill Lynch, which was bought by Bank of America , and France's Societe Generale, according to the report.

Morgan Stanley , Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Calyon, Barclays, Rabobank, Danske Bank, Santander, Wachovia and Bank of America are also among the counterparties who benefited from the AIG bailout, the paper said.

AIG, whose $61.66 billion fourth-quarter loss was the largest ever for a US company, received $30 billion more in government funds last Monday.

The insurer's financial health hasn't improved despite getting as much as $150 billion from the government last year.

Lawmakers have pressed the insurer to disclose its counterparties and have slammed the secrecy of banking bailouts.

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Krugman: Quit dithering

It's time Obama gets his economic team straightened out and moving forward. The start has been atrocious, including the multiple failed attempts to build a team around Geithner. If the economy is as important as everyone thinks it is, quit poking around and start working. The problem is too serious for any more of this.

Last month, in his big speech to Congress, President Obama argued for bold steps to fix America’s dysfunctional banks. “While the cost of action will be great,” he declared, “I can assure you that the cost of inaction will be far greater, for it could result in an economy that sputters along for not months or years, but perhaps a decade.”

Many analysts agree. But among people I talk to there’s a growing sense of frustration, even panic, over Mr. Obama’s failure to match his words with deeds. The reality is that when it comes to dealing with the banks, the Obama administration is dithering. Policy is stuck in a holding pattern.

Here’s how the pattern works: first, administration officials, usually speaking off the record, float a plan for rescuing the banks in the press. This trial balloon is quickly shot down by informed commentators.

Then, a few weeks later, the administration floats a new plan. This plan is, however, just a thinly disguised version of the previous plan, a fact quickly realized by all concerned. And the cycle starts again.

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The religious right can compare gays to terrorists and the Supreme Court to terrorists, but then gets upset when they're compared to terrorists

Can't have it both ways. Of course, they can because they're not really good Christians. The religious right is freaking out over the fact that Chris Matthews talked about their "terrorist rhetoric." I don't plan on linking to their action alert, but you can watch the video here:



The religious right claims that Matthews called them "terrorists," even though he didn't. Funny, then, that one of the lead religious right groups, the Concerned Women for America (CWA), compared gays to terrorists only a few years ago. From the Southern Poverty Law Center:

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, CWA accused same-sex partners of those killed of "trying to hijack the moral capital of marriage." Last year, CWA raised a ruckus over a gay Canadian couple that wanted to visit the U.S. together, calling the men "a new threat to border security" and "the latest pair of 'domestic terrorists.'"

So it's okay for the men at the Concerned Women for America to call gays and lesbians "terrorists," but it's not okay for anyone else to call just their rhetoric, rather than the people themselves, "terrorist." Or are those hysterical defenders of fey masculinity at the Family Research Council planning on condemning the men at the CWA as well?

And let's not forget the time that the Family Research Council, the group that is most upset with Matthews over his "terrorist" remark, themselves compared the US Supreme Court justices to "terrorists":

"The [Supreme] [C]ourt has become increasingly hostile to Christianity, and it poses a greater threat to representative government -- more than anything, more than budget deficits, more than terrorist groups." - Tony Perkins, head of FRC

I do hope Tony Perkins plans to apologize for comparing our esteemed Supreme Court justices to terrorists. Or is Perkins just a big Republican hypocrite? Read the rest of this post...

Peter Orszag has to school the GOP's leading budget committee member, the very painful Paul Ryan, on budgeting

Rep. Paul Ryan is desperately trying to make a name for himself in the GOP. He's puffing out his chest and attacking the Obama vociferously. I wrote earlier this week about the hissy fit he had because Obama was defending his budget. Seriously.

Like most Republicans, Ryan doesn't know what he's talking about. And, he's got Peter Orszag, who is more than a little brilliant, to contend with. This week, Ryan challenged the administration's numbers on ending the Iraq debacle:

Taking up the Iraq spending issue with Geithner later, Ryan thundered: "I've been reading budgets for most of my adult life. This is the biggest budget gimmick I've seen."

Where to start? Ryan thundered? Did he pound his chest, too? I think Ryan is going to be giving us an unending supply of content. He's a caricature that will keep on giving.

Orszag explains how it works, because, like most GOPers these days, Ryan doesn't get it. although, it turns out, at least one Republican in the past did:

The President is committed to responsibly winding the war. I don’t do foreign policy, but I can tell you this: ending wars saves money – and so the Administration’s budget includes savings from ramping down overseas military operations over time.

Yet critics are claiming that, in calculating the amount saved by ramping down operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Administration is wrong to compare its proposed funding levels to the level in 2008—the last year in which overseas operations were fully funded. Such criticisms are inconsistent not only with common sense but also established practices of budget accounting (and even what the critics themselves have said in the past).

The last time the United States began to ramp down from a prolonged, expensive military engagement, President George H.W. Bush was in office. With the Cold War having just been won, President Bush, for the 1991 budget, proposed a deficit reduction package that included substantial reductions in defense funding.

President Bush’s budget at the time reflected exactly the same budgetary treatment from ending the war that ours does. The baseline (that is, the deficit path before the President’s policies) reflected the high levels of defense spending precipitated by the Cold War, which had just ended at that point. Since President Bush proposed constraining defense spending over time to reflect the end of the Cold War, budgeteers credited the Administration with savings – just as the savings from winding down the war are credited under our budget.

That was the Bush who didn't lie and abuse the budget process.

George W. Bush did lie and Paul Ryan, dutifully served him for eight years. But even Ryan was a little cranky about the way George W. Bush did the budget (even as he defended his president.) Bush used the huge gimmick of not including the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in the budget. Back in October of 2007, Ryan had an issue with that Bush budgeting trick:

Budget ranking member Paul Ryan, R-Wis., did not challenge Orszag's numbers, but said that the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, when measured by the percentage of the gross national product going to defense-related spending, is low compared to previous conflicts and the average during the Cold War. He agreed with Spratt and the witnesses that the war funding should be part of the regular budget, but noted that, despite their protests, the Democrats have continued to approve the supplementals.

Obama's budget doesn't use tricks. And, uses honest projections based on trustworthy precedent. No wonder Ryan can't handle it. He said he's been reading budgets all of his adult life. But, he was reading budgets from George W. Bush. That was useless training.

Also, as that last clip indicates, Ryan has worked with Orszag in the past. I know Republicans are delusional, but Ryan should really know he's not in the same league. Read the rest of this post...

The President's weekly address

Your president had a busy week, which he discusses in the weekly address:

Obama hits on several key issues, including this on the budget and health care:

My administration inherited a $1.3 trillion budget deficit, the largest in history. And we've inherited a budgeting process as irresponsible as it is unsustainable. For years, as Wall Street used accounting tricks to conceal costs and avoid responsibility, Washington did, too.

These kinds of irresponsible budgets -- and inexcusable practices -- are now in the past. For the first time in many years, my administration has produced a budget that represents an honest reckoning of where we are and where we need to go.

It's also a budget that begins to make the hard choices that we've avoided for far too long -- a strategy that cuts where we must and invests where we need. That's why it includes $2 trillion in deficit reduction, while making historic investments in America's future. That's why it reduces discretionary spending for non-defense programs as a share of the economy by more than 10 percent over the next decade -- to the lowest level since they began keeping these records nearly half a century ago. And that's why on Wednesday, I signed a presidential memorandum to end unnecessary no-bid contracts and dramatically reform the way contracts are awarded -- reforms that will save the American people up to $40 billion each year.

Finally, because we cannot bring our deficit down or grow our economy without tackling the skyrocketing cost of health care, I held a health care summit on Thursday to begin the long-overdue process of reform. Our ideas and opinions about how to achieve this reform will vary, but our goal must be the same: quality, affordable health care for every American that no longer overwhelms the budgets of families, businesses, and our government.

Obama inherited a mess from George Bush and the Republicans. That's why it's so galling to listen to GOP nitwits, like Rep. Paul Ryan, whine and complain now. They abetted Bush's failed leadership -- a point the traditional media, like the GOP, ignores.

One reason we post the weekly address is that you can see and hear the original, unfiltered version. If you don't catch it yourself on the radio, there's a good chance you'll have to hear about it or read about it through the eyes and ears of the traditional media. That's not necessary. They can't dictate the way the message is conveyed anymore.

(We're told this week that the video won't be self-starting every time you refresh.)

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Saturday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

The poem of the week is the epilogue from Shakespeare's play, The Tempest, which is described by our poet master:

In a remarkably contemporary moment at the end of The Tempest, Shakespeare's wizard Prospero addresses the audience directly, breaking down the boundaries of the play. He informs them that the play is over, his powers are gone, and thus his escape from the play's island setting depends on their applause--that they, in effect, get to decide his fate.

That Shakespeare.

From the very fun ongoing series, Haiku for the Obama administration, KarenMrsLloydRichards kept them coming this week. #119

: Cable news fodder:
Co-ed hookers, whorehouse trains,
Obama failure . . .

(If you don't know the story behind this one, watch this.)And (#114) [First Ladies Special]:

Exposed upper arms
So toned--even in winter--
Give us all goose-flesh

The haiku series appears in the morning open threads. They help start the day with a good laugh.

Start threading the news -- and the haikus. (It rhymes.) Read the rest of this post...

By special request

Reader MikeB suggested this gem last week though I'm still not sure if it's because he actually loves this or he dislikes CCR. Of course, nobody in their right mind could possibly dislike CCR. Especially one of my favorite tunes. Read the rest of this post...

Why does this business hate capitalism?

Obviously this management team doesn't understand how business is supposed to work. What were they thinking?

Eleven-year FreeWave Technologies Inc. employee Melanie Duran says the wireless data radio maker is a great place to work. But you can judge for yourself.

The Boulder-based company says it has had profits every month since it hired its first employee in 1995. There have been no layoffs. Employees get company-funded retirement plans and bonuses based on profits and growth.

And there's more: As part of a $113 million private-equity investment deal in 2007, FreeWave is sharing $9 million of investors' money with its fewer than 100 employees as a reward for the company's success. Shares are divvied up based on individual performance. FreeWave refused to disclose individual payments.

The $9 million, for eligible employees who were with FreeWave when it won the investment, has been paid out in three installments. Company founders Steve Wulchin and Jonathan Sawyer are handing out the last payments Thursday.

"We're fortunate to have great bosses," said Duran, a production lead. The extra money is helping the 33-year-old close on buying her first house.

"This is something that in today's economy Steve and Jonathan don't have to do, and yet they've chosen to do it," said Tim Ake, a Navy veteran and production manager who has been with FreeWave for about five years. "That inspires me to go and do likewise," said Ake, who typically gives some of his bonuses to his church and to charity.

More inspirational than Allen Stanford? Really? Read the rest of this post...

Lloyds nationalized by UK government

One less potential zombie bank in the market. The longer the US drags its feet the more expensive the problem becomes. Leaving these banks out there in a zombie state is not doing anyone any good.

The government is poised to take majority control of Lloyds Banking Group in a deal expected to be announced today. The move will see the taxpayer own at least 60% of Lloyds as the price for insuring £260bn of its riskiest loans.

To help pay for the insurance, Lloyds may attempt to issue new shares. If this fails, the government's stake in the bank, which bought HBOS last September, could reach 75%.

The deal will heap huge pressure on the group's senior management who will face calls to quit for walking into a merger that has dramatically destabilised the enlarged group.

The Lloyds board met throughout yesterday to discuss terms offered by the Treasury to convert £4bn of preference shares into ordinary shares and insure up to £260bn of its most troublesome assets.

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