What’s Going On: Evening News Roundup
Here’s the Monday evening news roundup:
- Let’s start overseas. North Korea is miffed that the U.S. has not lived up to their obligations in the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty in their eyes. It appears that they are beginning to start up their nuclear reactor, again.
- We saw a record jump in oil prices today, as if we don’t have enough to worry about.
- Wall Street seems to be having a difficult time figuring out what Congress is doing, just as I am. The Dow lost 372 points today.
- An Iraqi top official testified in front of the Senate today. The former chief inspector of Iraq’s Commission on Public Integrity told U.S. senators that approximately $9 billion of American reconstruction money had been lost, stolen or misused. $9 billion. That’s one third of a Bear Stearns bail out.
- The New York Times had a large article on Senator John McCain’s campaign manager, Rick Davis.
Rick Davis received approximately $30 thousand per month for five years as the president of an advocacy group for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Although Senator McCain has been hammering Senator Barack Obama about ties with loan agencies, McCain’s campaign cried foul. They began whining that the New York Times is partial to Barack Obama. Then again, they’ve been whining on a variety of subjects recently. They just aren’t being treated fairly. The New York Times responded with an official statement. - Details of the $700 billion loan bailout are slowly emerging. Questions about McCain and his economic decisions are bubbling to the surface. Did he almost bankrupt Arizona with his electric cars? By the way, as long as we are talking about this bailout, we should remember that we know President Bush loves corporate insiders. Well, where did Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson come from? In his previous role as chairman of Goldman Sachs, he received $38 million in 2005. Sweet package. In his current role, he has surrounded himself with Goldman Sachs ex-employees. Who stands to gain from this corporate bailout? Not Goldman Sachs. Couldn’t be.
- The final game of the regular season has been played in Yankee Stadium. I’m not a New York Yankees fan. But still, I do appreciate the history and the significance of Yankee Stadium. The House that Ruth built will be torn down. If it wasn’t so big, it should be made into a museum. The new Yankee Stadium was built across the street and will be ready for the New York Yankee home opener in April of 2009.
- Congratulations to Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart!!!
