Four years ago today, President George W. Bush signed into law the biggest corporate rescue in American history.
Even as U.S. unemployment has remained above 8 percent for 43 months, the country's biggest banks are making almost as much as they ever have.
The combined $63 billion in profit reported by the six largest U.S. lenders over the four quarters through June is more than they earned in any calendar year since the peak in 2006.
Bank of America Corp. made more in the 12-month period than Walt Disney Co. and McDonald's Corp. combined.
Citigroup Inc., which like Bank of America took $45 billion in taxpayer funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, earned more than Caterpillar Inc. and Boeing Co.
JPMorgan Chase & Co., the largest U.S. bank by assets, had profits of more than $17 billion even after reporting a $5.8 billion trading loss.
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Ms Wanda Jackson still rockin'.Google the rockabilly queen. [Actually, that alone is pretty incredible. Over time it will change, but today, the #1 hit when you google those three words is the WSJ article, page D5.] I feature some rockabilly videos on my various blogs, so it was a real treat to see this story, of all places, in the WSJ. But there it was: a huge story on Ms Wanda Jackson, 74 years old, and the queen of rockabilly.
Next week she will release her 31st studio album. According to the article, "last year she opened for Adele in North America, and Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello have hailed Ms Jackson's sizzly voice and rock-history importance."
A real rag-to-riches story. Some of the biggest rockabilly fans, I believe, are in Europe.
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Motorola quietly drops a patent-infringement claim against rival Apple. Almost missed it. Back page of section B. Small column. Interesting.
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Tea leaves suggest Syria will be Balkanized. Google Syria's Kurds build enclaves as war rages. The geography is very interesting. Arab Spring turns out to have unintended consequences. Turkey has always had a problem with break-away Kurdistan on its southeastern border. Syria's Arab Spring extends that problem. The entire northern Syrian border abuts Turkey, and all along that border are Kurdish enclaves. And the Kurds have money. Iraq just recently started reimbursing the Kurds for their oil (I believe that story was posted yesterday or Monday).
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It appears the movers and shakers know what really happened in Libya. But, like the Afghanistan War, if it's not reported, it didn't happen. The book, no doubt, will be out next year.
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