Tony Petroski

In the next few days, the Energy Department will announce the first of $18.5B in loan guarantees for building new nuclear reactors, and industry experts think the first guarantee will go to Southern Company (SO). GE (GE) and others have invested tens of millions of dollars in plans for reactors in the hope that a drive for cleaner energy will force environmental advocates to rethink their skepticism over nuclear power.

Newt and the boys had the Energy Department and the Education Department in their gunsights. Missed.

Sources say the FHFA has approved compensation packages for Fannie Mae (FNM) CEO Michael Williams and Freddie Mac (FRE) CEO Charles Haldeman in the $4-6M dollar range. The decisions, expected today, will be controversial because the government has urged companies to tie executive pay to long-term performance.Update: FHFA outlines the pay packages (.pdf). From Fannie and Freddie's 8-Ks, it appears each CEO is in line for $6M including performance incentives.

Excuse me. Googled FHFA. It's the Federal Home of (can't publish) Adolescents.

Sources say the FHFA has approved compensation packages for Fannie Mae (FNM) CEO Michael Williams and Freddie Mac (FRE) CEO Charles Haldeman in the $4-6M dollar range. The decisions, expected today, will be controversial because the government has urged companies to tie executive pay to long-term performance.Update: FHFA outlines the pay packages (.pdf). From Fannie and Freddie's 8-Ks, it appears each CEO is in line for $6M including performance incentives.

There's an update but I still haven't been informed (I realize this is the computer age) what is the FHFA?

Sources say California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will ask President Obama for $8B in relief to ease large-scale cuts to the state's already diminished social programs amid a $21B anticipated deficit. The state was the biggest bond issuer this year, selling $36B.

This is too easy.

Take some of the $3 Billion you voted for stem-cell research and call us in the morning.

Sources say the FHFA has approved compensation packages for Fannie Mae (FNM) CEO Michael Williams and Freddie Mac (FRE) CEO Charles Haldeman in the $4-6M dollar range. The decisions, expected today, will be controversial because the government has urged companies to tie executive pay to long-term performance.Update: FHFA outlines the pay packages (.pdf). From Fannie and Freddie's 8-Ks, it appears each CEO is in line for $6M including performance incentives.

Please. Free men were elsewhere. What is "FHFA?"

Initial Jobless Claims: -28K to 452K vs. 470K expected. Continuing claims -127K to 5,076,000. Nov. Durable Goods: +0.2% vs. +0.4% expected, -0.6% prior. Ex-transport +2% vs. -1.3% prior.

Ed Zimmer: You are right.

Meanwhile, data released today suggest Japan's hardly out of the woods. The government's Business Outlook Survey found 1.9% of firms said the recent quarter's conditions worsened, down from 0.3% last quarter - and 3.5% of firms surveyed expect things to get worse in the coming quarter. (ETF: EWJ, earlier)

"Meanwhile, data released today suggest Japan's hardly out of the woods."

What hope is there for us Americans if Japan, of all places, can't stimulate their way out of two decades of stagnation?

We're all doomed! (Kidding).

Senate vote on healthcare overhaul passes 60-39.

This historical event took place while I was sleeping? Please tell me there were some photographers to snap pictures so I can show my (yet to be born) grandchildren that I was alive during this nation-changing moment.

Interesting, balanced profile of high-frequency trading in MIT's Technology Review. According to one trader: "We create order. When the markets are disorderly, we make a lot of money, but we are doing it by restoring the markets to order."

Don't buy this baloney. They shave a fraction of a cent off a large number of trades, provide nothing and try to justify their existence by claiming they provide "liquidity" and now "order."

Does Fiscal or Monetary Stimulus Work?

Mr. Harrison:

"Ideologues on one side see government as a parasite which interferes with the free market."

Let me speak for the ideologues on this one side. We don't see government as a parasite interfering with the free market. Indeed, we maintain the view that government is essential in order to insure our God-given rights as free men--It's called the American Way.

We recognize that our current level of government with agencies piled upon agencies, programs begetting more programs, neither promotes liberty nor does it enhance the pursuit of happiness. Government has abandoned the role of referee sorting out the disputes of free men and has instead become the broker in a very large game of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Indeed, Mr. Harrison concedes this point when he notes that:

"Moreover, the political process in the U.S. is such that any stimulus money will be diverted to pet projects and used to pay off political constituents."

Mr. Harrison. This is the way of the world. It's why the European Way or the Chinese Miracle (an earlier version was called the Japanese Miracle) or any way you care to come up with won't work. We need to recover our founding principles, stop trying to please the Citizens of the World, and stop stumbling down the dead-end known as Eurosocialism or Asian Fascism. It will require us to return to a government limited by the Constitution, maintaining sound money, balancing the budget and promoting the general welfare by providing a stable economy in which producers make a profit and employers have a reason to employ more people. We've had our fill of "spreading the wealth around.'

A psychiatrist who examined R. Allen Stanford says he's in danger of suffering a complete nervous breakdown if not released from prison on bail and allowed to properly prepare for his scheduled criminal trial.

Send the staff psychiatrist to treat him in prison.

Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa spells out the key to recovery, and coins a new phrase - "unwarranted pessimism" - along the way. Instead of focusing on short-term measures to spur demand, Shirakawa says "policies that help restore confidence in the public that their income will rise in the future will be most crucial." (ETF: EWJ)

"...and coins a new phrase - "unwarranted pessimism..."

The flip-side of "irrational exuberance?"

The Greatest Threat to Capitalism: Capitalism Itself

This from Ferdinand E.:

"A lot of people in that so-called "top 10%" want to see the US economy fail, because they want Obama out. They don't think that he is on their side..."

That's a pretty good description of my position. I would amend it though to say "A lot of people in that so-called 'top 10%' want to see Obama fail because they want him out and they want the U.S. economy to recover."

You see, we see Obama in the elite class that moves easily from Princeton, Yale and Harvard and then to Washington and New York and then back and forth as the political fortunes wax and wane.

Bank Reserves Soar; Bank Lending Shrinks and Inflation Stays Tame

Thanks Mr. Landy.

Bank Reserves Soar; Bank Lending Shrinks and Inflation Stays Tame

What is the interest rate that the Fed pays on the excess reserves?