It’s difficult to understand from the reporting so far what the cause is exactly, but the Journal says two were simple money-market funds and the other was an “enhanced-cash” fund. Did Lehman have to bail out money-market funds, which used to be considered safer than safe, to keep them from “breaking the buck,” or returning less to investors than they invested? Such an event might cause a run on the bank that Lehman and others can’t exactly handle right now.
We’ll keep an eye out for a better explanation.
Katie’s short, sad trip at CBS
The WSJ reports on B1 that Katie Couric will be out at CBS by early next year, well before her contract ends, as her Evening News continues to struggle in the ratings. The piece quotes sources on both sides. The LAT writes a brief story that takes CBS’s word for it, saying a person familiar with the situation says “her exit is not in the works.”
Slow growth
In economic news, the FT reports that the International Monetary Fund is predicting anemic U.S. growth through the end of next year. It says the U.S. economy will grow 0.5 percent this year and 0.6 percent in 2009.
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re: Airlines - this is a prime example of what is wrong with the conservative claims for deregulation. The usual screed is get the government out of business and the marketplace will take care of itself. Hogwash. AA put millions of lives at risk in its chase for ever more profits and would have continued to do so had the FAA not finally got the cojones to enforce existing regulations.
Posted by Doug Alder![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.cjr.org/nav-commenters.gif)
on Thu 10 Apr 2008 at 09:56 AM
Unfortunately there is more to this story that has been reported. The issue with the grounding and inspections of the MD-80’s has to do with the unions flexing their muscles and making a point that they have the power to ground the entire fleet if they want. It’s a pre contract negotiation technique. The entire issue with the MD-80’s, in a nutshell, is whether or not the cable ties on the wiring harness can be tied in a clockwise or counter clockwise manner. The manufacture made an arbitrary (arbitrary in that there is no technical requirement or consideration for this, just a preference) decision to wrap them counterclockwise instead of clockwise.
It was a play to keep more union work at the airlines and had nothing to do with the safety of the aircraft.
Posted by TDC![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.cjr.org/nav-commenters.gif)
on Mon 14 Apr 2008 at 12:32 PM