Bonuses for AIG employees? News this weekend that troubled insurer AIG, after receiving over $170 billion in taxpayer funds to prop itself up, is planning to pay some $1.2 billion in bonuses and retention payments met with general outrage from the average man in the street to the man in the White House. Now comes word that President Obama has called on Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to pursue “every legal avenue” to block the payments. That may be easier said than done. Like most other issues in the massive Gordian …
Over the past few months, we’ve seen a seemingly endless parade of bailouts from Washington — for banks, for automobiles, and just about everything else. Today, Congress may be voting on yet another bailout — this time for liberal media. This afternoon, the Senate is expected to take up a proposal by Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois which would clear the way for a restoration of measures designed to chill speech considered too conservative. The Durbin measure is being offered as a substitute to a contrary measure by Sen. Jim …
It could have been a tragedy, but wasn’t. After yesterday’s dramatic Hudson River crash landing of a US Airways jet, all 155 passengers and crew made it back to shore safely. Much of the credit goes to the plane’s pilot, who managed to maneuver the plane safely down. But the incident also illustrates the breathtaking, long-term improvements in safety that have taken place in the airline industry. It’s exactly the sort of good news that is too often ignored by the media. Despite the vast media coverage given to aviation …
The Wall Street Journal is reporting this afternoon that the Treasury Department is mulling the expansion of its bank equity purchase program to cover insurance firms. And other firms in other industries, including non-financial companies, are also asking be included. It should just say no to these ill-considered ideas. The program, begun by the Treasury Department two weeks ago when it purchased major stakes in the nine largest U.S. banks, was from the beginning touted as an exceptional response to an exceptional situation. Not only did bank failures threaten a …
Only in Washington can $7 billion dollars be considered a small amount. But that seems to be the feeling among many in Congress, which is on the verge of approving a bailout for Detroit automakers. As approved by the House on Wednesday, the program would provide for $25 billion in low-interest loans aimed at Detroit automakers to build more fuel efficient cars. (The program is discussed in more detail here.) The Senate may take up the matter as early as today as part of the continuing resolution on appropriations. As …
Nothing gathers a crowd in Washington like the sight of money being handed out. Thus, in the wake of last weekend’s federal takeover of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, lobbyists for the automobile industry could be found stalking the halls of Congress, asking for help from the government too. Specifically, they are asking for $50 billion in federal loan guarantees to develop alternatives to conventional fossil fuel vehicles. The idea has garnered surprisingly broad support — with both Barack Obama and John McCain both expressing support for aid to the …
Since the Federal Communications Commission’s ‘net neutrality’ order last month there have been an avalanche of lawsuits including four last week alone.Responding to the suits, Ben Scott of Free Press, the energizer rabbit of pro-regulation media groups, said: The Internet is too important to let Comcast tie it up in legal limbo. Congress should act now to pass Net Neutrality laws that clear up any uncertainty once and for all. Huh? On what planet, exactly, is Free Press based? Put aside for the moment the question of whether Comcast is …
This morning’s Drudge Report features the stories everyone is talking about today, with reports on U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps winning another couple of gold medals, the latest on the Russia-Georgia war, and — of course — FCC commissioner Robert McDowell on threat of the Fairness Doctrine and net neutrality regulation. Well, maybe the first two stories are getting a bit more attention, but McDowell’s remarks – made at The Heritage Foundation Tuesday after a blogger’s briefing — is getting a surprising amount of coverage in the blogsphere and trade press. …
The FCC last Friday may have jumped with both feet into the business of regulating the Internet, but someone forgot to tell the folks that run the Commission’s website. “The FCC Does Not Regulate the Internet or Internet Service Providers (ISP)” the “consumer publications” page of FCC.gov is still proudly telling visitors, referring them over to their state consumer protection office or to the Federal Trade Commission as the proper agencies for such things. In the past, I’ve been critical of the shambolic way in which the FCC’s website is …
In 1979, Robert Schuettinger and Eamonn Butler wrote a book called “Forty Centuries of Wage and Price Controls,” detailing 4,000 years of disastrous attempts by government to control market prices. Tomorrow, the House Judiciary Committee will vote on adding a 41st century to that litany of failure. The target: credit card “interchange fees.” Interchange fees are the fees paid by one bank to another, and passed on to merchants, as the price for processing a credit card purchase. They are set by credit card associations, such as MasterCard and Visa …
