Daily Chatterings: Tuesday, March 24th 2009

THE BIG CHATTER:
Yesterday, the White House and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner rolled out new plans to deal with bad bank assets. As I said before, this was a crucial moment for Secretary Geithner.

It was a huge gambit and one that came like a tonic to Wall Street, which had panned an earlier outline of the program that lacked detail.

Stocks soared, the Dow Jones industrial average shooting up nearly 500 points, thanks to the bank-assets plan and a report showing an unexpected jump in home sales.

Well played Mr Secretary.


SOME OTHER CHATTERINGS:
So, 15 of the top 20 AIG bonuses have been returned. Interesting note, some of the people that received bonuses were not American citizens, which makes the tax-away-solution useless. Reports are, that these people have not said they "won't" give the bonuses back, but have not said they "will" either.

Meghan McCain has been making a little noise again. You may remember her bash on Ann Coulter, and Laura "I wish I was Coulter" Ingraham's immature response. Well, Meghan McCain was on Larry King Live, and here's a few choice excerpts from the transcript:

Larry King: [President Obama] is taking some criticism for smiling and laughing [during his "60 Minutes" interview.] Are you one of those critics?

McCain: You know, I actually am not. I think anyone that would possibly think that the president is not taking the economy seriously -- I just think it's ridiculous... (snip)

McCain: I consider myself a progressive Republican. I am liberal on social issues. And I think that the party is at a place where social issues shouldn't be the issues that define the party. And I have taken heat, but in fairness to me, I am a different generation than the people that are giving me heat. I'm 24 years old. I'm not in my 40s, I'm not in my 50s and older.

I've been talking about a rift in the Republican party, that could either disappear in a few short years, or become the cancer that splits the party, possibly turning "Republican" into something for the history books. If she keeps up this way, I think we will see a leader of one side in this fight.

This is sure to put a smile on your face:

A Thai fireman turned superhero when he dressed up as comic-book character Spider-Man to coax a frightened eight-year-old from a balcony, police said on Tuesday.

I strongly suggest reading that whole article.

YOUR DAILY VIDEO TO CHAT ABOUT:


Anything I'm missing?