WEDNESDAY’S MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* The long-awaited QE2: “The Federal Reserve, concerned about the slow recovery, announced a second, large purchase of Treasury bonds on Wednesday, an effort to spur economic growth by lowering long-term interest rates…. The Fed said it would buy an additional $600 billion in long-term Treasury securities by the end of June 2011, somewhat more than the $300 billion to $500 billion that many in the markets had expected.”
* Paul Krugman doesn’t seem especially impressed with the move.
* Austerity measures not popular with some Greeks: “After a season of bitter and widespread protests over austerity measures to address its financial crisis, Greece faced new turmoil on Wednesday as the authorities investigated an elaborate bomb plot in which relatively mild explosive devices were sent to embassies in Athens as well as to the leaders of Italy and Germany.” Prime Minister George Papandreou said the letter bombs were the work of domestic terrorists, not al Qaeda.
* Three weeks, five shootings: “A fifth shooting at a U.S. military facility in Northern Virginia in recent days has been linked to the same weapon, authorities said Wednesday.”
* Solid auto sales: “October was the best month for new-vehicle sales in more than two years, outside of the government rebate program in mid-2009, and General Motors surpassed expectations, but still lost market share in the United States ahead of its public stock offering.”
* For crying out loud: “Both sides are claiming victory in Virginia-11, Rep. Gerry Connolly’s seat. And one of the three members of the canvassing board that’s overseeing the counting is none other than Hans von Spakovsky, the vote fraud bamboozler and vote suppression macher who became such a TPM favorite during the US Attorney firing days.”
* Colorado’s odious “fetal personhood” amendment went down in flames yesterday. Good.
* It was heartening to see Prop 23 lose in California, too.
* Several dozen House Dems lost last night, but not all of them were running under the same conditions. Dave Weigel has a smart piece on the four different types of Dems who were defeated.
* Fox News intended to do a big special tomorrow on imaginary “voter fraud” in Nevada. After Sharron Angle’s (R) embarrassing defeat, the Republican network has cancelled the program.
* No doubt: “The 112th United States Congress will be a very different place for higher education issues.”
* And while I’m not generally pleased with Chris Matthews’ work, I was delighted to hear him ask Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) last night, “Has someone hypnotized you?”
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
