This A.M.: SEC Stupidity on Madoff Exceeds Estimates; YouTube's Free Days Are Numbered; Obama to Blitz Congress in Person
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| From "Making Greed Good" (WSJ) |
Fed Tries to Prepare Markets for End of Securities Purchases (Bloomberg)
Government's printing of new money may end sometime this century.
The Madoff Files: A Chronicle of SEC Failure (WashPost)
SEC "received repeated allegations" and did nothing. Tell us something that Harry Markopolos didn't already tell us.
Movie Studios Discuss Ways to Rent Films Over YouTube (WSJ)
Locally produced fart movies will still be free.
Could social media games revive local businesses? (CNN)
Detailed report on hyperlocal tool Foursquare, which gets people together via smartphones at various restaurants and bars. As a potentially powerful advertising tool for such places, it's yet another threat to newspapers that are trying to survive on online ads. Potentially, restaurants and bars could completely bypass newspapers and other online ad outlets.
Customers Angered as iPhones Overload AT&T (NY)
Big hang-up for AT&T, but at least now it can blame the iPhone.
Federal Government Needs Massive Hiring Binge, Study Finds (WashPost)
Baby-boomer federal workers reaching retirement age. Who's going to replace them when they're finally free to go to cafeterias for early-bird meals?
Internet Ad Spending Declined in First Half of '09 (Ad Age)
Surprisingly, not only the print media suffered. Online display advertising experienced its first year-to-year drop since 2002 (but the measurements are somewhat dubious — they don't include paid search — so the figures may be misleading).
Making Greed Good (WSJ, David Weidner)
"If we can truly tie pay to performance in the financial world, we will establish more discipline than an army of regulators and a raft of rules can combined." Includes chart of bonuses.
FRANCHISES LOSE YARDAGE: EIGHT NFL TEAMS SEE DROP IN VALUE; REST ARE FLAT (NY Post)
"No longer the gold mines they once were for their billionaire owners." Manhattan shark Steve Ross bought the Miami Dolphins for $1.1 billion earlier this year and has already seen its value drop by nearly $100 million. And Chad Pennington, though a heady quarterback, still has a rag for an arm.
UK misses global upturn (BBC)
Bad news for Britain, which is lagging behind the U.S. and eurozone. Germany's winning this war.
Chinese Stocks, U.S. Index Futures Climb; Yen, Bonds Decline (Bloomberg)
"The contribution of China to the global recovery story is massive," says one analyst. This may kick-start the U.S. market to its first rise in five days. But on eve of G-20 meetings in London, Tim Geithner warns that stimulus still needed, that "we have to be realistic, we've got a long way to go still."
Obama Steps Into Congressional Health-Care Fight With Speech (Bloomberg)
The president plans to open a can of whoop-ass by addressing a joint session of Congress next week. A big test of his charisma.
Pfizer whistleblower's drug fear (BBC)
Drug giant's criminal promotion of drugs for conditions in which it hadn't been tested freaked out John Kopchinski, he says. His $50 million award for helping expose the shenanigans should help calm him down. Somebody at Pfizer's probably still agitated about the drug firm's agreement to pay a $1.2 billion criminal fine, the largest in U.S. history.
A Reluctance to Retire Means Fewer Openings (NYT)
"While Europeans are retiring in lockstep, potential retirees in the United States are clinging to jobs because of financial losses, making a tough job market even tougher."
Treasury Retreats From Standoff With TARP Watchdog (WSJ)
Whew. Neil Barofsky, the story says, "declared victory Wednesday in his effort to clarify that he doesn't answer to" Geithner.
Justices to Revisit Campaign Finance (WSJ)
Can corporations and unions continue to buy campaign ads?
Taxing Rich Wouldn't Close the Gap, but Would Shrink It (WSJ)
You'll never see such a story on the paper's editorial pages. But David Wessel does the math, and the cautiously worded story concludes that, yes, you could raise taxes on the rich without killing anyone.
White House to Propose Big Reserves at Banks (NYT)
Good test to see just how serious the Obama Administration is about reining in the big banks, which obviously would hate this major bite into their profits.
Obama Would Keep $85 Billion in Tax Breaks for Working Poor (WashPost)
Critics call it irresponsible. Working poor are too busy working and being poor to comment.
BP Finds 'Giant' Oil Source Deep Under Gulf of Mexico (WashPost)
Bigger, deeper, difficult to tap. Other Gulf of Mexico oil fields will decline by the time this one is tapped, so the impact of the ballyhooed find is unclear.
