Under Pressure, Obama Defends Health-Care Plan (WSJ)

Teabaggers outside, friendly folks inside. Too friendly and too respectful inside, reminiscent of the carefully screened audiences at the "town halls" that Dick Cheney and George W. Bush conducted. Best quote from a teabagger outside: ""Adolf Hitler was for exterminating the weak, not just the Jews and stuff, and socialism — that's what's going to happen." "Jews and stuff" — sounds like a chain of Bar Mitzvah-themed gift shops.

G.M. Puts Electric Car's City Mileage in Triple Digits (NYT)

It took a fucking bankruptcy to make GM get on the stick and finally roll out a fucking electric car.

U.S. economy has bottomed: George Soros (Reuters)

He should know. He's one of the world's most aggressive, barebacking tops.

Toxic assets warning sparks fall in financials (FT)

"Worst day in more than a month." Bravest words: "It is not necessarily the start of a steep decline," says Jordan Smyth, managing director of Edgemoor Investment Advisors. Remember his name if the market continues to go south.

Economy Might Suffer, But That Won't Prevent a Stock Rally (Seeking Alpha, Alex Filonov)

"I think that we are going to have a huge bull market the next several years. And there is only one reason for my optimism: the history of the previous Great Depression. That one started in 1929 and ended in 1939 (or, as some would argue, in 1943). You'd think that the stock market was down the drain all those years. Wrong! The Dow Jones fell 89 percent from 1929 peak to 1932 low. But after that, the Dow rallied. It rallied huge. Anybody who invested in stocks any year between 1932 and 1943 won huge. Was the 1932 bottom related to any improvement in the economy? ... The economy didn't even think to recover and unemployment was at around 25 percent. The reason for the rally was simple: stocks were dirt cheap and paid huge dividends."

Detail Man: As a Manager, Obama Gets Into the Weeds (WSJ)

As involved and smart and in-charge at meetings with his advisers as George W. Bush was uninvolved, clueless, and put through the paces by his Rasputin, once-again-in-the-news Karl Rove (See my July 2005 post "Stick to Principle. Stick to Principle.")

Madoff Aide Reveals Details of Ponzi Scheme (NYT)

Frank DiPascali went to work for Bernie Madoff straight out of high school. What a wasted life. And the judge didn't even let him make bail, despite protests from both the defense and government lawyers (see next item).

Judge Sets Date for Sentencing Ex-UBS Banker (NYT)

UBS banker Bradley Birkenfeld, at the heart of the massive scheme by the Swiss bank to help wealthy Americans evade taxes, remains on house arrest while awaiting sentencing. UBS paid the U.S. $780 million last February to avoid prosecution. Meanwhile, Birkenfeld is treated better than Madoff henchman Frank DiPascali.

'Clunkers' Vouchers Proposed (WSJ)

Don't hurry on down! Our sale goes on forever! Take your time! We ain't got no new cars for you! Our carmakers are bankrupt!

Waterfront Corruption Cited (WSJ)

Yes, the 1954 movie On the Waterfront did win eight Oscars (including one for the very recently deceased Budd Schulberg). No, this story is not about the movie, but about the corruption that, unsurprisingly, still plagues the New York waterfront. In fact, the watchdog commission set up to fight that corruption is itself corrupt, according to the watchdog's watchdog.

Senator Goes Face to Face With Dissent (NYT)

"Almost entirely white and irritable" dittoheads at Arlen Specter's "town hall" get on TV, so they can say, "We don't want this country to turn into Russia."

Fear of crimewave as recession threatens home life (Times U.K.)

"Britain faces a surge in drug addiction, alcoholism and domestic violence as the second wave of the recession and rising unemployment take a grip ..." Investor alert: In the U.S., that may signal increased profits for manufacturers of wifebeater T-shirts.

LOST LEVERAGE SINKS OWNERS (NY Post)

Today's best lede, thanks to Lois Weiss: "If you've played the real-estate game since 2005, you should be quaking in your kishkas."

China's Incinerators Loom as a Global Hazard (NYT)

China has overtaken the U.S. as the world leader in household garbage, but "incinerators are being built to wildly different standards across the country." Installing pollution controls is costly, so the burning of Chinese garbage is more deadly than the garbage itself.

Microsoft to Put Office on Phones From Nokia (NYT)

Nokia's engineers finally solved the problem of how to put a blue screen of death on their phone.

Housing Woes Are Far from Over (Ockham Research)

"[Yesterday's Zillow report] is further confirmation of our bearish stance on the residential construction industry."

Who was that gun-toting anti-Obama protester? (Salon, Joan Walsh)

"[O]n his MySpace page (h/t Lavender Newswire), [William] Kostric also lists as one of his heroes Robert Schultz, the anti-tax activist and We the People founder who spent a ton of his own money on ads promoting the Birther movement."

Court threat to offshore accounts as taxman does deal with Liechtenstein (Times U.K.)

"Some of the richest people in the UK will find out today if the taxman will be allowed access to details of their secret offshore accounts."

China officially arrests Rio employees (FT)

On charges of commercial bribery and ferreting out trade secrets. Key sign of China's less-Draconian approach: If convicted they just face a fine and relatively short prison terms. If they had been charged with violating China's dreaded state-secrets laws (used to suppress regime critics), they would have faced the death penalty.

This Is the Way Condé Nast Ends, Not with a Bang But with Tap Water (Gawker)

"Full cost-cutting mode" at the ailing publisher, ahead of expectedly grim recommendations from consultant McKinsey. Pellegrino? Orangina? Hell, no. Not even Fiji. Not even Poland Spring!