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MONDAY’S MINI REPORT… I’m going to take a shot at this. Here’s today’s edition of quick hits: * The market did not take kindly to the President’s plan for the auto industry, with the Dow dropping a little over 3%. * Another terrorist strike in Pakistan, as militants dressed as policemen stormed a police academy […]

PARTY OF NO NUMBERS… The GOP’s “budget” was roundly mocked throughout Democratic circles and even in the suddenly-caring-about-policy traditional media for not having any numbers, the way that, you know, a budget does. Yesterday, John McCain sought to calm the waters by claiming that the Senate GOP would put together, in fact, an actual budget […]

MORE ON THE AUTO PLAN… Things are moving fairly quickly on the auto company front. Within an hour or so of President Obama’s announcement about two struggling automakers, Chrysler announced the framework of a deal with Fiat, while GM’s new leaders immediately stepped into their positions. Clearly the President’s call for Chrysler to find a […]

THE PROBLEM OF THE SENATE… Last week saw a paroxysm of opposition to Barack Obama’s budget plan from leading Senate Democrats. Evan Bayh formed his moderate working group, and Kent Conrad whittled down the budget proposal (in many respects by reinstating helpful budget fictions that make the deficit look smaller). And opposition to the Administration-supported […]

PENSION GUARANTEE MONEY SET ABLAZE ON WALL STREET…. From the Boston Globe, a terrifying report about how the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the agency that insures retirement funds, decided to play in the stock market at precisely the wrong time: WASHINGTON – Just months before the start of last year’s stock market collapse, the federal […]

IF IT’S SUNDAY, IT’S JOHN MCCAIN…. John McCain appeared on Meet the Press this Sunday, and while the content was unremarkable, a little portion at the end was pretty revealing. DAVID GREGORY: This is your 54th appearance on Meet the Press. Now I know you’re a competitive guy. Bob Dole still holds the record at […]

OBAMA SPARS WITH THE WORLD… On the eve of the G20 summit. McClatchy looks at whether Europe will embrace the President the way they did during the campaign. Obama leaves on Tuesday on a whirlwind eight-day tour. He remains enormously popular in Europe, and the throngs that greeted him last summer as a candidate are […]

“YEARS”… It’s already astounding that the Norm Coleman-Al Franken Senate recount has taken this long to resolve. Franken has won the first recount and Coleman’s lawyers even acknowledge that he will win the case before the Minnesota Supreme Court when the verdict comes down shortly. But this is the first time I’ve heard the word […]

A NEW DAY ON CLIMATE CHANGE…. Juliet Eilperin reports on the sweeping changes being made by the Obama Administration on environmental policy: After the United States voiced support for the idea of a new, binding mercury treaty, the world community embraced it in Nairobi. The rapid policy reversal is just one of more than a […]

JUST ONE MORE FILL-UP FOR THE AUTO INDUSTRY?… The government had until March 31 to assess the restructuring plans for GM and Chrysler and decide whether or not to give them more loans until they can sustain themselves. Obviously, the Obama Administration didn’t much like what they saw. President Barack Obama is sending a blunt […]