(New York Times) “Five hundred thousand dollars — the amount President Obama wants to set as the top pay for banking executives whose firms accept government bailout money — seems like a lot, and it is a lot. To many people in many places, it is a princely sum to live on. But in the neighborhoods of New York City and its suburban enclaves where successful bankers live, half a million a year can go very fast.”
More at the New York Times Fashion section.

Interview with Peter Goselin and David Samuels about the People’s Bailout – a response to Governor Rell’s budget cuts.

Click here to download the MP3

The caption is the response by Bridgeport Superintendent of Schools John Ramos to the announcement by the Connecticut State Department of Education endorsing $280 million in cuts in education funding for the next fiscal year. Ramos sums up what thousands of school administrators, teachers and concerned parents around the state must be thinking on reading of the proposed cuts.  [continued at Two Good Hands]

Economist Barry Ritholtz has calculated the combined cost of the massive Federal Bailouts this year, and arrived at a total $4.6 Trillion so far.
That makes the bailout more expensive than all these programs combined (in adjusted dollars):

• Marshall Plan
• Louisiana Purchase
• Race to the Moon
• S&L Crisis
• Korean War
• The New Deal
• Invasion of Iraq
• Vietnam War
• NASA (all-time budget)

Mr. Ritholtz’s calculations are available for download, and include a lot more than the $700 Billion TARP fund.

Democracy Now! interviews filmmaker and activist Michael Moore.  See why backs Obama, his views on the bailout and healthcare, and his “10 decrees” for a new White House.   Full story here.