Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke

Following the successful Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke began the job of Chairman of the Board of Governors of the United States Federal Reserve in 2006. Governing during the credit meltdown and bank crisis of 2008, his expertise on the economic and political causes of the Great Depression will certainly be useful. He graduated from Harvard University in 1975 and received his PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1979. His thesis was titled "Long-term commitments, dynamic optimization, and the business cycle."
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TED Spread - Inflation and Confidence in the Market

Sophisticated investors, bank managers and government regulators use various metrics to measure and monitor the state of world finance. One such metric is the Treasury-Euro-Dollar spread or "TED spread." The TED spread is the difference between the interbank lending rate or London Inter Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and the rate on 3 month Treasury Bills. This difference is used by many "in the know," like chairman of the Fed, Ben Bernanke and bank managers, of the credit risk in the general economy.
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Web Information and Ranking with Alexa

With billions of web documents, directories and search engines it can be difficult to find reliable sources of quality information. Some companies, like Google and Alexa, have undertaken the daunting task of giving ratings to web pages. The web information and website ranking company Alexa was founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat. It is currently run by Chief Executive Officer Niall O'Driscoll.
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Mad Maverick Warren Buffet - Gambling or Arbitrage

On the brink of a massive stock market crash third quarter, the maverick investor Warren Buffet announced plans to buy $3 billion General Electric (GE) preferred stock as part of a $15 billion effort by General Electric to raise capital. The deal will allow Berkshire Hathaway the option of buying an additional $3 billion of GE common stock at $22.25, which may be exercised within the next five years. This deal comes just weeks after Buffet invested more than $5 billion in a deal with Goldman Sachs investment bank.
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Manipulating Voter Contact With House Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is limiting email from constituents after the bailout bill was defeated Monday on a 228-205 vote. Jeff Ventura of the Chief Administrative Office (CAO) stated that "We are trying to figure out a way that the house.gov website wouldn't completely crash." It seems that attempts to throttle the web traffic have failed and now the entire "write your representative" page has been taken down.
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New $700 Billion Bailout - Options

After the initial bailout plan was rejected Thursday by the United States House of Representatives, Secretary Paulson, Chairman Bernanke, President Bush, Senator McCain, Senator Obama and Senate lawmakers have initiated a new rescue plan. The vote comes at the end of the Jewish holiday to celebrate the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah. The plan includes extensions of the capital gains tax reduction and Alternative Minimum Tax reduction (AMT) and an increase in FDIC coverage from $100,000 to $250,000.
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Bank Rating List

With the impending doom espoused by secretary Paulson and chairman Bernanke, it's very likely that congress will come to terms over a plan to create liquidity and solvency during this banking crisis. But, one reason the $700 Billion bailout didn't pass is because it's difficult for anyone to know where banks stand and where they are headed without a consistent way to rate them.
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Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton On Saturday Night Live

Last week Saturday Night Live (SNL) hosted a segment featuring Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton. "Sarah Palin" delivered the famous line "Live from New York it's Saturday night." We'll have to see if art immitates reality with the vice-presidential debate going on Thursday, between Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin.
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Wachovia Sell Off To Citigroup

In a press release delivered September 29, 2008, Wachovia (WB) the fourth largest bank in America, reported its sell off of $812.4 billion in assets to behemoth Citigroup (C) for an estimated $2.1 billion. The deal, only a short time after the WaMu buyout and AIG bailout, includes Wachovia's investment banking, corporate and retail banking and wealth management group. Citigroup will assume $53 billion in Wachovia debt. This comes only a short time after showing major losses, a cut in dividends, and over exposure to sub-prime mortgages.
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JPMorgan Buys $307 Billion WaMu Washington Mutual

As the biggest bank failure in American history, JPMorgan Chase & Co. have bought Washington Mutual's $307 billion in assets for $1.9 billion, preventing a potential shock to taxpayers and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and making JPMorgan the largest bank in America in front of Bank of America.
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Sleep Well, the Official Guide to Better Sleep, Beat Insomnia Program

More than 64 million Americans' suffer from insomnia and other sleep disorders in the US alone. Sleeping problems lead to many, seemingly unrelated, diseases and conditions. Considering the stresses on people in industrialized nations, having a problem with sleep could be the number one health problem in the world.
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Eastern Influence - Shogi, Mahjong, Go and Xiangqi

Whether Asian Americans or globalization trends are causing this flux of Eastern influence, it is clear that the Far East has become firmly entrenched in the Western melting pot. To begin this series on Eastern influence we will give an introduction to some of the popular Eastern board games that mainstream Americans might have already experienced.
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$700 Billion Bailout - Options and Opposition

At today's senate hearing, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke have prepared to answer questions and testify on behalf of the $700 bailout of American Financial Institutions affected by the mortgage crisis. It is an attempt to keep banks liquid and lending money in a troublesome time. As noted at the meeting by Senator Jim Bunning, Republican Kentucky, Alan Greenspan believes that $700 billion, in the wake of major failures, is not nearly enough to solve the capital ratios of major financial institutions.
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Ten Dead and Two Injured in College Shooting

The suspect, Matti Juhani Saari, after killing ten college students, has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, the Pirkanmaa hospital told reporters Tuesday. Police say Saari behan firing at 10:50 a.m. local time at a classroom in the college in Southwestern Finland, Kauhajoki, before he turned the gun on himself. The gunman is thought to have been a 22 year old student of the college.
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AIG, American International Group, Megacap Failures

the Federal Government has agreed to loan as much as $85 billion to the depressed company in exchange for an ownership stake of 79.9%. This agreement has found great opposition from stakeholders whose shares would be significantly diluted. There is a shareholder meeting planned for tomorrow, September 23, 2008 to discuss alternatives to the Government bailout.
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Inside the Banking Crisis, Too Big to Fail and CAMELS

Time doesn't discriminate. It is insanely fair. Everyone receives the same amount of time each day - 24 hours. Not a millisecond more or less is allotted to each of us. We spend it as we wish. Some may disagree with me, but I believe time is our most precious asset. Once it has passed...it is gone. We can only hope we will be given more time tomorrow, but time plays no favorites
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7 Ways to Lose Weight and Keep it Off

After trying new diets, cutting calories, and diet pills, here is the definitive way to lose weight and keep it off. With obesity being the number two leading cause of preventable death in America, there is more than "looking good" at stake. You will need to make some serious lifestyle changes to achieve your weight loss goals, but these 7 steps give the greatest chance of keeping pounds off.
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