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To help our readers kill their Christmas spirit. :(
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The US Treasury has sold its remaining stake in Citigroup, in a deal which it says will make a $12 billion profit on its overall investment.
Citigroup was one of the worst victims of the financial crisis, and the US government stepped in with $45 billion of bail-out cash in 2008 and 2009. The money was part of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
On Monday, the government sold off its remaining shares in the bank for $4.35 each…
The US government is in line for further earnings from Citi through the sale of warrants and preferred securities it holds.
In parallel to Citi paying off its debts, carmaker General Motors is likewise shedding itself of government control.
And the US Treasury is expected to begin selling off its stake in insurance giant AIG next year.
It is now estimated that the cost of the Troubled Asset Relief Program will cost the US taxpayer $25 billion, much less than earlier estimates.
$25 billion = the approximate current cost of 2 months of our glorious wars for freedom and democracy in the Middle East.
To help our readers get into the Christmas spirit.
Didn’t the Soviet Union, East Germany, et al have a ‘report your suspicious neighbor’ deal going? It starts as helpfully watching out for bad things like someone breaking into a car, planting a bomb, etc. Followed by that guy hasn’t done anything but looks suspicious, so he must be thinking of doing something bad. He needs arresting. It then becomes a crime not to report it.
Shoppers at Walmart will soon have something other than glossy magazines and chewing gum to look at when in the checkout line: A “video message” from the Department of Homeland Security asking shoppers to look out for “suspicious” activity and report it immediately.
It’s part of a new Department of Homeland Security program that could see Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s face on video screens in malls, retail outlets and hotels across the United States. The Walmart video, which will soon be launched at 230 locations nationwide and may eventually be expanded to nearly 600 locations in 27 states, features Napolitano thanking the retailer by name for participating in the program.
[…]
The video, which doesn’t appear to offer any advice on what constitutes “suspicious” activity, is part of DHS’ “If You See Something, Say Something” program. It was launched originally in the New York City public transit system and, according to the DHS, is about to go nationwide.
Guess it’s time to get your fear on!
Toast Sandwich
Julian Assange had his account frozen because there was an issue with the “paperwork.” The bankers are out to get this guy since they are his next target.
The Swiss bank PostFinance moved Monday to close WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s bank account in the latest international move to isolate him in the wake of his release of once-secret U.S. State Department cables.
Bank spokesman Alex Josty said the bank took the step after it determined that Assange, an Australian, wasn’t a resident of Switzerland as he’d declared when he opened the account. Josty said the bank re-examined the original paperwork after WikiLeaks, seeking donations, posted the account information on its website. “It’s no problem for an Australian to have an account, but they have to live in Switzerland,” Josty said.
- Google finally selling all those books it has been scanning.
- Two new phones from Google including the Nexus S. Whatever happened to the Nexus 2?
- Facebook on 60 Minutes to promote, uh, advertising?
- Apple to hire hot designer for new campus.
- Columbia backs off on anti-Wikileaks attitude.
- AT&T is the worst says consumer Reports.
- Samsung tablet news.
- IBM giving it away.
- Lose your job over off-shoring? Get money!
- Tech deals will continue forever.
- Tumblr blows up, for a day.
- HP’s new University.
Right click here and select ‘Save Link As…’ to download the mp3 file.
cnet news
Digital audio won the popularity contest years ago, and nowadays almost every sound you hear coming out of a speaker is digitally encoded. Sound is always digital, whether it’s on your phone, computer, radio, TV, home theater, or in a concert hall. I’d go so far as to say most people never hear analog recordings anymore. Unless you’re a musician, or live with one, virtually all the music you hear live or recorded is digital.
Digital audio eliminated all of analog audio’s distortions and noise-related problems. In that sense digital is “perfect.” When analog recordings are copied, there are significant generation-to-generation losses, added distortion, and noise; digital-to-digital copies are perfect clones. Some recording engineers believe digital doesn’t have a sound per se, and that it’s a completely transparent recording medium. Analog, with its distortions, noise, and speed variations imparts its own sound to music. Perfect, it is not.
This article ought to start a few arguments.
This Episode’s Executive Producer: Sir Steven Pelsmaekers
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Art By: Jesse Anderson
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Israel’s most politically influential rabbi has courted controversy by claiming that the deadliest forest fire in the country’s history was divine retribution for the failure of many Israelis to observe the Sabbath…
Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of Shas, a powerful religious party in Israel’s coalition government, said there was little doubt that the fire was sent by God to punish his chosen people for their waywardness.
In his weekly sermon, the rabbi quoted a section from the Talmud, a central Jewish religious text, which proclaimed that “the fire only exists in a place where the Sabbath is desecrated”.
“Homes were ruined, entire neighbourhoods wiped out, and it’s not arbitrary,” he said. “It is all divine providence. We must repent and keep the Sabbath properly…”
For many ultra-orthodox Jews in Israel, Rabbi Yosef is the most important religious authority in the land and his comments drew little criticism from government officials wary of upsetting a powerful coalition partner.
Sound familiar?
It’s fancy dress season in European football and no one does it like the Brits. This was just a quick snap with my pocket camera during today’s match between the Baggies and the Magpies.
I have never before seen anyone wearing a balaclava shaped like a raw turkey.
West Bromwich Albion 3 – 1 Newcastle United
I guess this is the result of a ‘service’ economy where nothing is made, but people need to make a living somehow.
When Ms. Pont decided to seek a divorce last year, she quickly ran out of money. […] She wrestled with accepting a smaller settlement than she considered fair. Then a lawyer referred her to Balance Point Divorce Funding, a new Beverly Hills lender that offers to cover the cost of breaking up — paying a lawyer, searching for hidden assets, maintaining a lifestyle — in exchange for a share of the winnings.
In October, Balance Point agreed to invest more than $200,000 in Ms. Pont’s case.
[…]
So far, the number of companies investing in divorce is small — Balance Point is one of the few that do it exclusively. But other businesses are gearing up.
[…]
While this business is in its infancy, Balance Point is part of a bigger trend — the growing industry that invests in other people’s lawsuits, arming plaintiffs with money to help them win more money from defendants. Banks, hedge funds and boutique firms like Balance Point now have a total of $1 billion invested in lawsuits at any given time, industry participants estimate.Lawsuit lenders initially focused on personal injury cases, but over time they have sought new frontiers, including securities fraud cases brought by disgruntled investors, whistleblower claims against corporations and property development disputes.
BTW, apparently, 1 in 5 divorces in the US involve Facebook. Sounds like a marketing opportunity for divorce lawyers.
Given all the talk of about North Korea and Iran possibly having nuclear weapons, watch and learn. As an added bonus, many of the tips may be helpful if the zombie apocalypse occurs first. Oh, and some words in the video may be NSFW, depending upon where you work.
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