It has become clear to me that the stimulus vote caused a schism which makes our differences irreconcilable.
Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Spector • On why he’s switching parties. He claims that he always voted based on the issue, not the party line, but the Republicans aren’t happy with him in his state. His switching brings the Democrats closer to a two-thirds majority in the Senate. Less filibusters = more pushing stuff through. Liberals must be getting excited. • source
It wasn’t only the muscle cars, the GTO or the ’67 Firebird or the beastly Trans-Am, that made Pontiac something special.
“The Swamp” blogger Mark Silva • Reminiscing about the death of the Pontiac brand, which was announced today along with all those job cuts by GM. The Pontiac brand slowly but surely evolved away from those muscle cars that defined it early on, but they still define the brand to many. • source
The circumstances David Kellermann, a 41-year-old Freddie Mac executive who lived in the D.C. metro area, was found dead early this morning at his home in an apparent suicide. Kellermann had long been an executive with the company in various roles, but only became acting Chief Financial Officer last year at the peak of the financial crisis. source
The circumstances David Kellermann, a 41-year-old Freddie Mac executive who lived in the D.C. metro area, was found dead early this morning at his home in an apparent suicide. Kellermann had long been an executive with the company in various roles, but only became acting Chief Financial Officer last year at the peak of the financial crisis.
Not a fun job Freddie Mac was one of the early victims of the financial crisis. After housing’s freefall hit them hard, the company was taken over by the government in September. They then became a quasi-governmental agency that took on big parts of Obama’s recovery plan. Kellermann became acting CFO around this time. source
The sheer size of the program … is so large and the leverage being provided to the private equity participants so beneficial, that the taxpayer risk is many times that of the private parties, thereby potentially skewing the economic incentives.
Inspector General Neil Barofksy • In a massive quarterly report on the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Sound like fun? It totally is. We hope, if the banks defraud us taxpayers, they do it in really cool ways, like buying themselves gold houses and rocket cars. • source