The Wall Street Journal, reporting from Davos, asks (gulp), “Is Capitalism, as We Know It, Dead?”
Pumped up from his experience as chief investigator of steroids abuse in baseball, George Mitchell is now in for some really heavy lifting: the testosterone-laden, rage-filled Arab-Jew death dance in the Middle East.
No coincidence that Mitchell’s arrival in the region as President Barack Obama’s peacemaker was accompanied by a flareup of violence.
In the former Maine senator’s baseball probe, few of the players would even talk to him, so he relied heavily on former Mets batboy Kirk Radomski.
This time, however, he’ll be dealing with some people who throw serious heat — rocks, rockets, white phosphorus — and everybody will be talking all at once. Whether they’ll listen to him is another thing.
But he has experience in cutting in on partners locked in death dances: Mitchell won praise a decade ago for helping to hammer out an accord in Northern Ireland.
If he has any success at all in the Middle East, Mitchell will get more than just a feather in his cap. He would indeed replace James G. Blaine in the history books as the plumed knight from Maine.
Meanwhile, in other business…
NO PARTICULAR ORDER:
Village Voice: ‘What Cooked the World’s Economy? It wasn’t your overdue mortgage.’ (James Lieber)
Time: ‘Is California the State Closest to Economic Ruin?’
N.Y. Post: ‘NY HOME$ IN RECORD PLUNGE’
Wall Street Journal: ‘Unemployment Rises in Every State: Joblessness Is Worst Where Housing, Manufacturing Are in Trouble, but Spreading Fast’
N.Y. Post: ‘AXED DAD SLAUGHTERS FAMILY’
Bloomberg: ‘Pfizer’s Wyeth Purchase Puts New Jersey Town’s Jobs, Taxes, Deli in Peril’
Time: ‘The GOP Grapples with Obama’s Charm Offensive’
N.Y. Daily News: ‘Taxpayers’ running tab on Yankee Stadium parkland’
N.Y. Post: ‘LI “PONZI” BIG HIRED PRISON CHURCH CON’
N.Y. Times: ‘Iranian Leader Demands U.S. Apology’
A day after President Obama struck a conciliatory tone toward Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged Washington on Wednesday to apologize for its actions toward his country for the past 60 years and said it was unclear whether the new American administration was merely shifting tactics or wanted real change.
But, in a speech in the western city of Kermanshah, he did not explicitly rebuff the American president’s gesture.
Time: ‘How Al-Arabiya Got the Obama Interview’
N.Y. Post: ‘FAULTY DOORS HAVE SUBWAYS OFF-TRACK’
N.Y. Daily News: ‘Top execs still living like kings’ (Juan Gonzalez)
New Yorker: ‘Ms. Kennedy Regrets: Why Caroline Kennedy dropped out’
N.Y. Times: ‘Rove Subpoenaed on U.S. Attorneys’
N.Y. Post: ‘SCHUMER: MOVE SEC TO NEW YORK’
Harper’s: ‘Weekly Review’
N.Y. Daily News: ‘Blabbering Blagojevich turns to puppy talk’
Bloomberg: ‘Bankruptcy Lawyers Seek $18.50 a Minute as Creditors’ Recoveries Shrink’
N.Y. Post: ‘UNHAPPY MEAL: EXECS NOW DINING AT MCDONALD’S’
N.Y. Daily News: ‘Blowfish testicles poison diners’
Wall Street Journal: ‘Novartis Posts 70% Rise in Net’
…The company said it expects record results in 2009, but also warned that the market and economic environment is becoming increasingly challenging.
Novartis, based in Basel, also reported a small pipeline setback, saying it will file meningitis vaccine Menveo for approval for use in infants in 2011, which is later than planned. This comes after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked to test the vaccine on an additional 1,500 infants.
Bloomberg: ‘Obama Broadband Plan Is Too Small, Has Too Many Conditions, Companies Say’
Wall Street Journal: ‘Flare-Up Tests Mideast Truce as Mitchell Arrives’
Wall Street Journal: ‘Medics Say They Were Blocked from Hard-Hit Gaza Village’
Bloomberg: ‘Pakistani Crackdown on Mumbai Attack Suspects Leaves Imams Preaching Jihad’
Wall Street Journal: ‘Illinois Senators Hear Blagojevich’s Taped Conversations’
N.Y. Daily News: ‘Times Square hotel tops list of dirtiest hotels in America’
Wall Street Journal: ‘Barclays Chiefs Join Growing List of Davos No-Shows’
Bloomberg: ‘Schwarzman Pledges “Wonderful Time” for Buyouts as Wealth Drops $7 Billion’
N.Y. Daily News: ‘Defendant hurls human feces at jury’
Bloomberg: ‘Olympic Bailout Puts Vancouver Taxpayers on Alert for a Montreal “Big Owe”‘
Wall Street Journal: ‘Davos: Is Capitalism, as We Know It, Dead?’
Bloomberg: ‘TARP Bank Shares Index Losses Are Four Times the S&P 500’s’
Bloomberg: ‘Mack Tells Wife He May “Lose” Morgan Stanley Before Staking All on Brokers’
Wall Street Journal: ‘Bill Clinton Speech Fees Topped $4.7 Million in ’08’
Wall Street Journal: ‘High Priest of Sex and Suburbia’
Tommy De Seno‘s Jersey Shore Blog offers a math lesson:
Brothers Lawrence and Kenneth Gay are facing a plea bargained sentence of 11 years in prison for stealing $13,000 from a poker game in Brick, New Jersey.
That’s one year in jail for each $1,181.00 stolen.
By that math, Bernie Madoff, who stole $50 billion, should be sentenced to 43 million years in prison.
Wall Street Journal: ‘Perjury Charges Being Considered: SEC Officials Believe Madoff Lied to Them During Past Examinations’
Securities Docket: ‘Testimony of SEC’s Linda Thomsen Before Senate Banking Committee (Madoff Matter)’
Bloomberg: ‘Madoff Enablers Winked at Suspected Front-Running’
Wall Street Journal: ‘In Echoes Of Madoff, Ponzi Cases Proliferate’