Big Bonuses, Bad Business?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
High gas prices, slumping home sales and declining values and the whole sub-prime credit mess have combined to make 2007 a pretty tough year for a lot of people. The latest CNN poll shows 57% of Americans think the economy is already in a recession. But you wouldn't know it on Wall Street. Bonus checks at the big investment banking firms are up 14% this year. Four of the biggest investment banks alone - Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns - will pay out $30 billion in bonuses.
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein will get $70 million, and Lehman Brothers' CEO Richard Fuld will get a $35 million stock bonus. Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack and Bear Stearns CEO Jimmy Cayne are forgoing their bonuses this year. But they'll probably be okay.
Mack got more than $40 million in stocks and options last year. Cayne received a bonus of more than $33 million.
Average Americans who invested in these banks paying out these big bonuses are probably scratching their heads. If they held stock in most of these companies, they saw values plunge up to 45%.
Here’s my question to you: Is it wrong for Wall Street to reward its employees with big bonuses this year?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Making a Choice in Iowa
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
With just two weeks to go, a very large number of Democratic caucus goers in Iowa say they haven't decided who's going to get their vote. The debate has been largely about "experience"– which is what Senator Hillary Clinton argues she has on her side– versus "change" which is what Senator Barack Obama promises to bring to Washington. Also very much in the mix is John Edwards, who vows to do battle with the large corporations that have a stranglehold on the federal government. In fact recent polls in Iowa show Senator Edwards trailing Clinton and Obama by just a couple of percentage points, putting the three of them in a virtual dead-heat.
Iraq, health care and the economy have ranked as the top issues for Democrats in Iowa.
But with so many undecided voters this late in the race, something is clearly missing.
Here’s my question to you: In the closing days of the Iowa campaign what will cause undecided voters to finally make up their minds?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Airline Glitches and Delays
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Just in time for your holiday travels, a new report finds that airline "glitches" top "weather" and "congestion" as the leading cause of flight delays.
"USA Today" reports that crew shortages, excessive refueling and mechanical breakdowns are to blame for 23.8 million minutes of delays this year. And that number only goes through October. Airway congestion, on the other hand, accounted for a mere 23.3 million minutes.
The airlines are not disputing these numbers - the "USA Today" analysis sorted through data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. But they do claim that some of the delays attributed to them were due to bad weather earlier in the day.
But layoffs, strikes, and other labor problems that have plagued this industry for years probably had something to do with it too.
Here’s my question to you: Should the airlines be punished for flight delays, and if so, how?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Jailing drivers who use cell phones?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
British drivers who get caught talking on their cell phones or sending text messages while driving can now be sent to jail. What a great idea.
A new law means people can now be charged with "dangerous driving", which carries a 2-year maximum prison sentence and an unlimited fine. Under the old law, motorists faced a lesser charge of "careless driving" which carried a $120 fine and three points on their license.
The new law came about because of growing public concern over drivers using hand-held phones, which were banned while driving back in 2003. Because of a lack of aggressive enforcement and relatively mild penalties, vast numbers of drivers ignored the law and continued to endanger themselves and everyone else on the road by yakking on their cell phones.
The British government says drivers are four times more likely to crash if they're holding a cell phone or sending a text message while driving.
And it's not just cell phones they're going after. The new measure also punishes other aspects of dangerous driving, things like smoking, racing, reading a map or newspaper and making sudden lane changes.
Here’s my question to you: Is it too harsh a punishment to jail people for using cell phones while driving?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
A GOP free-for-all?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
No more front-runner when it comes to the Republican presidential race.
At least that's according to a new poll. The Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey shows Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney tied nationally at 20%. Mike Huckabee is close behind them at 17%, followed by John McCain at 14% and Fred Thompson at 11%.
Just six weeks ago, Giuliani held a double digit lead over his closest rivals. Other polls also show Giuliani's lead shrinking in Florida, one of the states he's been building his campaign around.
Experts say they haven't seen a Republican race so fluid and in such turmoil for more than 50 years. There are several reasons for it, including President Bush's low approval ratings and the fact that this is the first campaign in a very long time that doesn't include an incumbent president or vice president. There's also the aging of the conservative coalition that Ronald Reagan created in 1980. We're now seeing economic, national security and social issues voters all vying for attention.
Here’s my question to you: Why has the Republican race for the presidential nomination suddenly become a free-for-all?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Obama’s cabinet: Hagel, Arnold?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has often talked about reaching out across the aisle if he becomes president.
And ABC News reports Obama is now naming names of some Republicans he'd consider putting in his cabinet.
Obama told voters at a town hall event in Manchester, New Hampshire, that it's premature to start announcing his cabinet and that he still has a long way to go. Nonetheless, some GOP names started to flow… including Senators Dick Lugar and Chuck Hagel along with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Of Lugar, Obama said he's worked with him before on issues of arms control, that he's somebody who embodies the tradition of a sensible bipartisan foreign policy.
Obama said Hagel is someone who has a "similar approach" and that he respects in a similar fashion.
And, when it comes to Schwarzenegger, Obama described what he's done on climate change in California as "important and significant", adding that the governor has taken leadership on a tough issue and that we haven't seen that kind of leadership in Washington.
Here’s my question to you: Does it make Barack Obama a more appealing candidate when he says he’d consider Republicans like Chuck Hagel and Arnold Schwarzenegger for his cabinet?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Rescuing American banks?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Some may call it a troubling sign: foreign governments coming to the rescue of American banks.
Just today, the no. 2 U.S. investment bank, Morgan Stanley, posted its first quarterly loss ever, and announced a $5 billion cash injection from a Chinese state-run investment fund. That represents less than 10% of the company's total shares.
Morgan Stanley says the purpose was to raise capital along with improving its ties to the world's fastest growing economy. They said the China fund would be a passive investor, with no management role and no say in naming a member to the board of directors.
But, this isn't the first time we're seeing this scenario play out. China also invested heavily in Bear Stearns and the private equity group Blackstone. Rival Citigroup announced a similar move last month, selling a $7.5 billion stake to the Gulf Arab emirate of Abu Dhabi in an attempt to raise capital. Abu Dhabi also invested in the politically connected takeover firm The Carlyle Group.
U.S. banks have been wrestling with issues like the subprime mortgage crisis which have forced many of them to write off billions of dollars due to bad loans.
Here’s my question to you: What does it mean when foreign governments are having to come to the rescue of American banks?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
How to win in Iowa?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
With two weeks to go until the Iowa caucuses, the race couldn't be much tighter on the Democratic side.
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll suggests 33% of likely caucus goers support Barack Obama, 29% back Hillary Clinton and 20% are behind John Edwards. The margin of error is 4 points.
The poll also shows Obama gaining ground on Clinton on the question of which Democrat is most electable, which had been one of Clinton's early advantages. However, when it comes to which candidate has the best experience to be president, Clinton still has a significant lead.
In Iowa, it could also come down to which campaign does a better job of motivating voters to come out in the dead of winter and spend hours attending these caucuses. The poll found more of Obama's supporters say they're certain to participate than Clinton's.
But, Clinton's backers are the most committed to voting for her and the most enthusiastic. 70% of her supporters say they'll definitely caucus for her in two weeks, while John Edwards' and Obama's supporters are more likely to say they could change their minds.
Here’s my question to you: What does Hillary Clinton have to do in the last two weeks to win the Iowa caucuses?
To watch the Cafferty File Video click here
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Approving Iraq $?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
As the Los Angeles Times rightly sums it up, the Democrats' "Yearlong campaign to bring the war in Iraq to an end concluded with a whimper yesterday as the Senate failed again to pass a timeline for withdrawing U.S. troops from the conflict."
The House still has to approve this revised spending bill, with unrestricted war funds for Iraq and Afghanistan, but it seems likely to pass there with strong Republican support.
No, it's not your imagination. As recently as last month, House and Senate Democrats vowed not to give President Bush any more money for the war in Iraq without withdrawal timelines. But the president threatened to veto the massive spending bill needed to keep the government running unless he got the war money. And the Democrats, lacking any backbone whatsoever, of course immediately surrendered. These people make the French look courageous.
Democratic Senator Russ Feingold offered the failed amendment that would have required the withdrawal of most U.S. troops within 9 months. He remained defiant, saying that nothing is more important to him or his constituents than "ending this disastrous war."
But Republicans insisted that they were doing the right thing for the troops, and that Washington can't ignore the military progress in Iraq.
Here’s my question to you: Should Congress have refused to pass funding for the war in Iraq without some timeline for troop withdrawals?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Delaying border security?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Members of Congress want to delay a new security rule that requires Americans to show passports at all U.S. border crossings next year.
The reason is they're hoping to avoid a repeat of what happened last summer when there was a massive backlog of passport applications. Lawmakers say that under part of the major spending bill that will be voted on this week, the border passport rule would be moved back even further to June 1st, 2009.
The Bush administration says it opposes the measure and that the Department of Homeland Security still expects to go ahead with implementing the planned passport rule this coming summer.
But some in Congress, especially those in border states where tourism could be affected, insist the government should have more time to implement the law and do it in a way that won't cause the "passport headaches" we saw this year.
Of course, that still leaves us with plenty of other "headaches" regarding this nation's open borders and the need to secure them.
Here’s my question to you: Should the U.S. further delay a border security rule to give people more time to meet stricter passport requirements?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
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