11/24 Roundup: Recounts, Bailouts, and Lizard People

• The Minnesota Senate race is still up for grabs.  Norm Coleman’s lead has ranged from anywhere between 100 and 200 votes over the past few days. However, the actual vote total is misleading since it does not count ballots that were challenged by either side.  Since we have no clue if one side or the other is challenging more questionable ballots than the other side, we don’t know all that much. People like Nate Silver are trying to speculate on the outcome based upon challenged ballots, but I think his methods are questionable at best. You’d be better off flipping a coin. Read more about some of the questionable ballots, including double votes for “Lizard People” here.

• Obama’s financial team is now in place. More about that here. In other cabinet news, Hillary Clinton looks to be a safe bet for Secretary of State. Although with the Clintons, never say never.  I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw more drama before this was final.

• The Treasury Department will inject at least $ 20 billion of capital into Citigroup. In addition, the federal government will in essence be providing catastrophic insurance to Citi on any losses in excess of 40 billion dollars. However, any bailout of the Big 3 automakers is looking very unlikely in the near future. My response to that? Good. The executives and the UAW have much blame to share in this disaster. If they’re not willing to make some real sacrifices and lay out a real plan for turning things around, then nothing should be done for them in my opinion. There needs to be some accountability. No more free rides. The hypocrisy by many labor-files who opposed the financial sector bailout is striking.