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The Michigan State Spartans aren't the only ones holding it up for the  embattled state: Today on Countdown to the Closing Bell, we landed an interview with Governor Jennifer Granholm who is  obviously very concerned about all of the GM developments over the past 24 hours, but wait til you hear her tone and how she views the future. And if you've got a business? Just listen to the ... read more

What do you think? Do we tax the heck out of Wall Street bonuses? The House overwhelmingly passed legislation yesterday that would tax bonuses at a rate of 90%. Who gets hit? Any employee who earns more than $250,000 at a company that has received at least $5 billion from the government, i.e. YOU THE TAXPAYER. But, be careful of  'Ye olde Unintended Consequences' issue. If this passes in ... read more

..and with it comes more AIG 'we're-annoyed-again-with-how-they're-using-our-taxpayer-money" drama, along with G-20 Finance meeting developments. (Our own Ashley Webster conducted a fair and terrific interview with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in Europe, btw). At least the Benie Madoff insanity is somewhat on its way to being resolved, although we all still want to know, "Where's the ... read more

Didja see the op-ed piece in the WSJ today by Alan Greenspan? Talk about a guy who's trying to say that the worst recession since the Great Depression *wasn't* sparked by the monetary policy he left in place for a loooooong time... I mean, just read the thing. He's given more space than Sputnick on the op-ed page to try to keep his reputation afloat.  Clearly, he's a man who's very concerned ... read more

He's arguably the world's greatest investor so when he puts out a 23 page round-up of his investing successes and mistakes of 2008 along with an outlook for 2009, everyone wants to hear it. Knowing that many of you are quite busy and don't have time to pore through a 23-page investment letter while you're trying to live your own life, *I* did it for you and have pulled out the best Buffettisms and ... read more

Everyone who runs into me says, "What's going to happen?!!"  Well, heck, if I KNEW... I mean, look at the markets right this minute: we got horrific news on the Durable Goods front... DG's are big-ticket items meant to least 3-5 years or more, e.g. cars, washing machines, airplanes etc.  So the number came in worse than expected but the markets are still higher! Do me a favor: try not to ... read more

Gang, Today was 'International Day' on FBN. Alexis Glick started the party with a First on Fox Business interview with the Finance Minister of Sweden, along with the Prime Minister of Canada... two very important interviews in the grand scheme of the global financial crisis. Then at 3pm ET, we landed France's Finance Minister exclusively. Christine Lagarde is one of Forbes' 100 Most ... read more

That most Americans are good people who are going to work every day, paying their mortgages, paying their taxes (even though none of likes doing so!) and reaching for the American Dream. I was stunned the other morning to hear business anchors on another network say that 'everyone should just stop paying their taxes' and refuse to go to work. The pessimism was rampant as was the total ... read more

Hi Gang, Look. You know if you've read my blog, that I'm skeptical that the Stimulus monster plan would truly work the spark-plugs of the economy and get things going but for the past two days, I've only read negative things about it.  Practically every op-ed page in America is ripping this thing, saying it's filled only with pork (it's not... to be fair, $282 billion of it or 35% is dedicated ... read more

Hi Gang, I had a few days to take a mini-vacation to Paris and I was smacked right in the face with a cousin of our own economic crisis: "La Crise Economique."  On a much smaller but no less painful scale than the U.S. recession, the global recession has saturated just about every aspect of French life.   20 years ago I was lucky enough to study a year abroad in Paris at La Sorbonne and ... read more