TUESDAY’S MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Ouch: “Investors around the world are betting that even with government stimulus and bailout programs, the global recession will just have to run its course. The problems that slammed stocks last year — ailing banks, foundering automakers, tumbling home prices and cash-strapped consumers — haven’t let up. Instead, the issues have festered, and are threatening to push U.S. stocks back to levels not seen since the late 1990s.”
* Chrysler wants another $5 billion in loans. GM will likely make a request of its own fairly soon.
* President Obama has reportedly approved “an increase in U.S. forces for the flagging war in Afghanistan.”
* Busted: “Federal authorities today charged a prominent Texas businessman and three of his companies with carrying out a ‘massive, ongoing fraud’ involving the sale of $8 billion in certificates of deposit, one of the largest alleged financial frauds in U.S. history. R. Allen Stanford and two colleagues, working through a web of firms in Houston and the Caribbean, lied to customers about how their money was being invested and how the firms’ investment portfolios had performed in the past, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a complaint.”
* And guess who took a Caribbean junket on Stanford’s dime?
* The Recovery.org project gets underway.
* Good move: “The Obama administration on Tuesday agreed to review whether it should regulate carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants, portending a major reversal of the Bush administration’s policy on global warming.”
* “Political Animal” didn’t make the cut on Time‘s list of the Top 25 blogs, but I sincerely appreciate those of you who gave us a shout-out in the comments section over there.
* House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) hasn’t seen the Obama administration’s new housing plan, but he’s already knows he’s opposed to it. (Note to Cantor: you probably shouldn’t have spoken out against the GOP becoming the “party of ‘no.’”)
* I can only assume that George W. Bush gives Fred Barnes some kind of monthly stipend. No one would choose to be this big a hack for free.
* Tonight’s “Frontline” special, “Inside the Meltdown,” looks like it’ll be a good one.
* I find The Trilogy Meter fascinating, especially the fact that the third movie so frequently seems to be the worst.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
