AIG Bailout #2
Insurance company AIG is now getting a second multi-billion dollar government bailout because of bad bets it made in the investment markets. The bailout makes sense, because if there's one kind of company that can't be blamed for not insuring itself against risk, it's an insurance company.

AIG collapsed because its employees were too busy making terrible bets on the debt market. This is just like when the guys at McDonald's lose customers because the fry cook is too busy filling out his March Madness brackets.



Detroit Bailout
President-elect Obama is urging President Bush to bailout GM, Ford and Chrysler by loaning them billions of dollars. The American automakers say they plan to pay back those loans by charging a billion dollars a car.


A new poll shows most Americans don't support a bailout for the Detroit automakers. But most Americans do support a bailout for the Detroit Lions.


President Bush said he might support some more aid for the automakers if Democrats agreed to a free-trade pact with Colombia. He also indicated he might help if Ford started making a SUV with a deep-fryer.

If the government does take over the auto industry, it would help millions of Americans keep their jobs... but cars would no longer go any faster than 25 MPH.



Citi Action
Citigroup says it is hoping to stave off a possible tsunami of foreclosures by "reaching out to borrowers in residential areas of higher-than-average unemployment"... like the residential areas where there are a lot of people who just got laid off by Citigroup.


Inauguration Hot Ticket
Tickets for Barack Obama's inauguration will be harder to come by than any other inauguration in history... mostly because everyone attending will have the best chance of getting to the front of the line for another government bailout.