Saturday, April 4, 2009

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Estimate says bailout will cost taxpayers more Top
WASHINGTON — Bailing out the financial sector will cost taxpayers $167 billion more than originally anticipated, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate. The original figure in January was $189 billion, but it is now $356 billion _ $152 billion more for 2009 and $15 billion more next year, the CBO says in its March report updating the budget and economic outlook. The CBO raised its projection because yields have increased on securities issued by the bailed-out financial institutions under the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. That means there will be an increase in the cost of the subsidy from the U.S. Treasury's purchase of preferred stock, asset guarantees and loans to automakers, the CBO said. In addition, since the CBO issued its original cost estimate for the program, the Treasury announced additional deals with Bank of America and American International Group. Those deals will be at rates higher than the averages in the CBO's original estimate. Also going up: the subsidy rates in the administration's $50 billion program to deal with home foreclosures. The TARP program isn't the only one that will prove more costly to taxpayers than originally thought, says the CBO. Bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac _ the two mortage finance giants taken over by the government in September _ will cost another $52 billion this year alone, and an additional $28 billion for their activities from 2010 to 2019, says the CBO. Since January, the condition of both Fannie Mac and Freddie Mac has turned out to be worse than expected. So CBO has increased its estimate of the current value of future losses. Most of the increase stems from loans and guarantees inherited at the time the government took control of the two housing entities, says the CBO. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac plunged into the purchase of risky mortgages, becoming two of the major contributors to the housing market's collapse and the ensuing global financial crisis. ___ On the Net: Congressional Budget Office report: http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/100xx/doc10014/03-20-PresidentBudget.pdf More on The Bailouts
 
Gioia Diliberto: Michelle Obama's New Kind of Glamour Top
When Jackie Kennedy, accompanied by President Kennedy, arrived in Paris in May, 1961 on an official presidential trip, she was greeted by cheering crowds chanting "Vive Jackie!" The French admired her youth, beauty, grace and charm. But what made them fall in love with her was that she seemed so, well, French. An unrepentant Francophile, Jackie had a degree in French literature, spoke fluent French and preferred the French pronunciation of her name: Jachleen. She arrived in Paris in a navy shantung suit by Chez Ninon, a chichi Park Avenue dressmaker that supplied her with copies of French couture, which she wore throughout the trip - except, that is, when she was wearing real Givenchy. Now, almost half a century later, another American First Lady has swept triumphantly into France, this time swathed in black and fuchsia silk by the young, Thailand-born U.S. designer Thakoon Panichgul. The crowds have been as enthusiastic for Michelle Obama as they were for Jackie Kennedy, and the press as fawning. An article that ran on the web site for the Parisian newspaper L'Express was typical: Headlined, "The Ten Commandments of Michelle Obama's Style," it celebrated the First Lady's love of bright colors, pointed shoes, and bold accessories. All the clothes she's worn so far on the trip (with the exception of some Azzedine Alaia and an argyle sweater by the Japanese Junya Watanabe) are by American designers, including Michelle's favorite multi-culti design posse of the Cuban born Isabel Toldeo, the Taiwanese born Jason Wu, and Thakoon. Could it be the French are ceding ground they've passionately clung to for more than 300 years? Are they admitting that when it comes to style, their authority is no longer absolute? The fact that Michelle arguably outshone Carla Bruni, the wife of French President Nicholas Sarkozy and a former fashion mannequin at the first ladies' much anticipated first meeting - on French soil no less -- is testament to Obama star power. At ceremonies at Strasbourg's Rohan palace during the second leg of the G20 Summit, Carla and Michelle both wore coats with bows, an uncanny coincidence suggesting they were channeling the same fashion fairy. Otherwise, they looked completely different. Carla's demure gray lambskin seemed downright boring next to Michelle's vibrant black silk dotted with fuchsia flowers. But it wasn't until the coats came off that Michelle's elegance really gleamed. Her slim fitting, three quarter sleeve fuchsia dress looked exactly right. It combined Asian elements with a whimsical femininity and completely washed out Carla's subdued gray sheath. One gets the sense that Carla is dressing not to please herself but to conform to an idea of who she should be. Sarkozy has been quoted saying he hoped his wife would be the new Diana. There's not much chance of that, for no matter how often Carla is photographed in understated, traditional French clothes, the Italian born heiress can't obliterate her racy past of liaisons with rock stars (including the married Mick Jagger), and the nude photos of her on the internet. Not only do Michelle's clothes project an authentic self - confident, healthy, smart, uncynical - they also reflect the spirit of the moment. There is something new in the air, a kind of youthful openness. Barack Obama harnessed it and rode it to the White House. And you can see it on the street, in the way young women wear their flirty skirts with bare legs and colorful handbags, the way they pair tank tops with fringed scarves and tuck their jeans into sleek boots. Seismic social and economic shifts, like the ones we are experiencing now, often lead to fashion revolutions. After World War I, women shed their corsets and cut their hair, liberating themselves from restraining fashion, just as they freed themselves from Victorian ideas of women's subservience. Twenty-five years later, sick of the drab, skimpy clothes they'd worn throughout WWII, women turned the clock back to the Belle Epoque and embraced the opulent femininity of Christian Dior's New Look. Today, in the wake of the Wall Street implosion there's a new kind of glamour, one that is relaxed, fun and accessible to all, and it's embodied by Michelle Obama. Even the First Lady's occasional style missteps don't disqualify her as a Fashion Star. Old Guard arbiters of chic like Oscar de la Renta might excoriate her for wearing a humble sweater to Buckingham Palace. And the London Daily Mail might tease her for letting the line of her body slimming underwear, what the Brit's call "magic pants," show through the fabric of her J.Crew skirt. But the truth is, the old rules no longer apply, and the snarky comments don't stick. More on Fashion
 
Rev. Lennox Yearwood: Tears from Heaven: Dr. King Would Want Climate Justice Top
Forty-one years ago today, on a balcony in Memphis, TN, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was taken from us. His dream, however, did not die on the balcony. One year ago, on the 40th anniversary of Dr. King's assassination, I was in Memphis at a very special and important gathering, the Dream Reborn Conference organized by Green for All. This gathering jumpstarted a nationwide movement for an inclusive green economy. Over the course of a year this movement grew so quickly and became so powerful, that we got $500 million dollars for green jobs training in President Obama's economic recovery plan. Now, our movement for climate justice and economic opportunity has a critical role this month. We must fight for federal clean energy legislation that will create jobs, help end our dangerous dependence on foreign oil, and combat global warming. This week, Congressman Henry Waxman, Chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee and Congressman Edward Markey, Chair of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee, released a draft of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES). Here is a summary of the bill. This legislation takes a step towards ending global warming, and by working with our environmental movement allies we can align the cause of ending urban poverty with the need to protect our environment. That is, we can connect the dots between what's good for our planet and what's good for low-income urban communities. You see, it is mostly poor people of color in the U.S. and around the globe who are feeling the impact from climate change, through increases in heat-related illnesses and deaths, rising energy costs, and of course natural disasters, like Hurricane Katrina. We can end poverty and save our climate at the same time. Our demands in the month of April to our Representatives in Congress should be to create Clean Energy Jobs, rebuild our economy, save consumers and businesses money through industry efficiency, protect consumers from energy price spikes (like $4 a gallon gas last summer), and cap global warming pollution to protect our vulnerable communities and avert the high price of inaction. One piece of legislation, the American Clean Energy and Security Act, can do all this for us, if we make it so. Nothing is guaranteed for Urban America in this green conversion, if the streets stay silent on this issue. We have come so far over the course of a year, as a movement we worked both to elect the people we want to best represent us, and at the same time, we fought hard on the issues that matter. Opportunity is before us, and we must seize it. I gave a speech one year ago, as the keynote to the opening plenary of the Dream Reborn Conference. Davey D , a renowned Hip Hop journalist, remixed it. I would give the same exact speech today, April 4, 2009 as we still fight for the Dream. Listen to the speech with an introduction from my good friend Van Jones: You can also listen here: Davey D's Hip Hop Corner More on Climate Change
 
David Bromwich: Economic Adviser to the Aristocracy Top
The lately published list of the honorariums received by Lawrence Summers for lectures delivered in 2008--at firms like J.P. Morgan, McKinsey and Company, Goldman Sachs (twice), Citigroup (twice), Lehman Brothers (twice), American Express, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Skagen Funds (twice)--shows the practical meaning of an aristocratic class. The amounts received by Summers from these banks and brokerage houses and consulting firms covered a range from $59,400 per lecture (Skagen) to $135,000 (McKinsey). Other outfits paid still more. Summers also received a salary of $5.2 million in 2008 from the hedge fund D.E. Shaw after having brought substantial pressure to institute to a radical policy of deregulation that affords an unparalleled species of financial protection to hedge funds. The point about such a private counselor who becomes a public servant is not that he is corrupt. He need not be. Rather, he is predictable within the world he knows and believes in, which is the world that honors him. He does not have to be told what to do. When he thinks of the American family, these banks and investment groups, and the too-big-to-fail insurance colossus, are in fact his extended family. They are the people he talks to and jokes with and eats with, the people he thinks of in his spare time. They are the people he knows. One sees in the recent career of Summers--and not least, in his ascent to the position of economic adviser to President Obama--how subtle, consistent, and pervasive are the means by which an aristocracy perpetuates itself. How it doles out its rewards to maintain its power. How it buys the talents and shapes the careers it needs, so that even a general crisis brings only a second layer of bribed servants, and the medicine is administered by doctors whose judgment is bought and paid for. One sees, too, what drove the rage against such a class in earlier times--the feeling that its power is a monstrous imposition; the fear that no cry or protest will ever penetrate from outside the closed circle. More on Barack Obama
 
Obama To Call For Elimination Of All Nuclear Weapons Across The Globe Top
President Barack Obama will call for the elimination of all nuclear weapons across the globe, in remarks on Sunday he hopes will lend credibility to his message in atomic disputes with Iran and North Korea. Visiting Prague during an eight-day visit to Europe, Obama plans to deliver what his aides have billed as a major speech on weapons proliferation. More on Barack Obama
 
The End Of Christian America: Newsweek Top
The percentage of self-identified Christians has fallen 10 points in the past two decades. How that statistic explains who we are now--and what, as a nation, we are about to become. More on Religion
 
Andy Ostroy: Citi Field, Shmiti Field -- I Want Shea Back Top
So in just a few short days the New York Mets baseball team will have its first 2009 home game in its brand-new stadium, Citi Field. Though many of my Metsy friends are ecstatic and can't wait to pay the higher ticket prices, I say bah-humbug . I could care less about the new park and have no intention of ever going. Ok, that's me belly-aching today, and I'm sure there'll be a game or two I'm dragged to, but my heart just ain't in it. In fact, I find the whole commercial motivation behind Shea's demise offensive and disheartening. For the record, I have been a mad-crazy Mets fan for 40 years ever since Cleon Jones, Tommie Agee, Tom Seaver, Buddy Harrelson, Jerry Koosman and my favorite, No 22, first-baseman Donn Clendenon, were among the "Amazin's" who gave us that miracle season in '69. I never looked back. Which is why I feel tearing down Shea was sacrilegious. Baseball is America's pastime. It's how and where lifetime memories are made. Memories that include family, friends and co-workers. What's baseball without a strong sense of nostalgia? Will any of us be able to peer across Citi Field and remember their first game with mom and dad? Will any of us be able to spot the seats we sat in the first time we went to a game alone with our teenage pals? Or that great date we were on? Or the night out with the office boys? Or the annual games with our childhood friends? Or when we took our own sons and daughters for their first game? Or what about sitting in a place that saw two incredible World Series Championships? Or where those four kids from Liverpool created musical history? That's what Shea means to me. Citi Field , you say? No thanks. Yes, baseball is apple pie. It's not sushi or some trendy gourmet Danny Meyer restaurant. It's about enjoying the game, not shopping is some new ritzy store. Baseball is an American tradition for the masses. It's supposed to be where a family of four can spend a glorious summer afternoon without needing an AIG-like bonus. Those days are gone. Call me crazy, but I like life simple. For me, happiness was a hot dog, a cold beer, sunshine and my Shea memories. I enjoyed the crappy seats, the bad angles, the lousy food, the joy that was orange and blue. All I needed was my Shea and my Mets. Adding insult to injury, couldn't they have at least kept the name Shea instead of bestowing this honor on some near-bankrupt, TARP-fund-guzzling dinosaur? Citicorp will be shelling out $400 million over 20 years for the right to hang its tarnished shingle over the new stadium. To me, a life-long Mets fan and taxpayer whose money is part of Citi's $45 billion government bailout, it all just stinks. More on Citibank
 

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