Solyndra executives were summoned to Capitol Hill yesterday. They took the fifth. This is curious.
There’s more going on in Wisconsin with regards to Governor Scott Walker and some secret investigation. Scott Walker’s spokesman has received immunity. This can’t be good.
Sometimes, government is hard. Other times, it’s just politics. It appears that a government shutdown is on the horizon, again. The Republicans have not given up on insisting on funding cuts before funding FEMA disaster relief.
I find it kind of amusing that we are instructing Europe to be more aggressive on their debt crisis. This is in spite of the fact that we really haven’t solve our own debt crisis.
Scientists at Penn State College of Medicine announced that they have found a virus capable of killing breast cancer within seven days. If this is true and if there are no untoward side effects, like getting some other type of cancer, this would be a huge breakthrough.
Michele Bachmann during last week’s debates basically proposed no taxes. I’m not talking about a system with fewer taxes. I’m talking about a system without any taxes. I guess that government would run on a voluntary basis. There would be no military. There would be no Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. There would be nothing. No disaster relief. The crazy, irrational philosopher, Ayn Rand, would be proud.
For quite some time now, some money gurus have been touting the safe haven of gold. After yesterday’s losses, I’m guessing that gold and silver aren’t that safe anymore.
One of the darlings of Wall Street has been this company called GroupOn. Just like every other phrase on Wall Street, Groupon was initially overvalued at $20 billion. Its revenues were nowhere near this lofty number. There seems to be some accounting irregularities which reduce the revenue from over $700 million to $312.9 million. That’s a huge accounting discrepancy.
I’ve been extremely critical of Hewlett-Packard. I think that they’ve lost their way. They have fired their old CEO and have hired eBay’s old CEO Meg Whitman. She’s got a lot of work to do.
Nice article on making your smart phone – smarter.
The NRA is confused and delusional. They seem to be upset that Obama has done what he said he was going to do. Nothing. He wasn’t going to touch gun control. That simple task of Obama’s sticking to his promise has gotten the NRA in a twist. Read this craziness.
Is Putin back in as the Russian president? Nice gig if you can get it.
UBS CEO has stepped down over the $2 billion losses. Remember, I mentioned several days ago that a “rogue” trader lost $2 billion at UBS. I think that it is important to point out the wink, wink, nod, nod that is going on here. This trader wasn’t a rogue. He was just the same as those other knuckleheads. Matt Taibbi put it this way –
They’re not “rogue” for the simple reason that making insanely irresponsible decisions with other peoples’ money is exactly the job description of a lot of people on Wall Street. Hell, they don’t call these guys “rogue traders” when they make a billion dollars gambling.
The only thing that differentiates a “rogue” trader like Barings villain Nick Leeson from a Lloyd Blankfein, Dick Fuld, John Thain, or someone like AIG’s Joe Cassano, is that those other guys are more senior and their lunatic, catastrophic decisions were authorized (and yes, I know that Cassano wasn’t an investment banker, technically – but he was in financial services).
In the financial press you’re called a “rogue trader” if you’re some overperspired 28 year-old newbie who bypasses internal audits and quality control to make a disastrous trade that could sink the company. But if you’re a well-groomed 60 year-old CEO who uses his authority to ignore quality control and internal audits in order to make disastrous trades that could sink the company, you get a bailout, a bonus, and heroic treatment in an Andrew Ross Sorkin book.
Right on cue, Larry Flynt, founder of Hustler magazine, has offered $1 million for anyone who has proof of a sexual affair with Rick Perry.
Cain wins Florida straw poll. Interestingly, Michele Bachmann finished last. She finished behind – Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich (who has gotten no traction at all) and Jon Huntsman.
What’s on your mind? What stories are you following?
