Friday, January 23, 2009

With his “chief economic spokesman” now likely to get confirmation by the full Senate, Barack Obama needs to get busy getting a stimulus package finalized. He’s expected to meet with congressional leaders on the subject on Friday; the horse-trading could move hundreds of billions of dollars toward or away from tax cuts or any number of government spending programs.

Can a prime minster block a bank bonus? That’s what several opposition figures are calling on the United Kingdom’s Gordon Brown to do. Beleaguered, and now socialized, the Northern Rock bank is set to hand out bonuses to senior executives on Friday. The state, or rather the crown, now controls the purse strings; nobody likes talking about salaries, even in America, so how will the aloof Scot cope?

New York state Gov. David Paterson could announce his selection to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Senate on Friday, and upstate Rep. Kirsten Gilibrand is now seen by several observers as the favorite (link TK). Meanwhile, if you live in New York City, you can laugh your through the pain by checking out The New Yorker’s exhibit of money-themed cartoons at the Morgan Library and Museum, which launches on Friday. (Non-New Yorkers can buy one of the many New Yorker spinoff products for a virtual look at the cartoons, though you’ll have to do the search yourself.)