Friday, April 18, 2008
Your Morning News: 4.18.08
Posted by Josh in Air Force, Baseball, Iraq, President Bush, recession, Thunderbirds are go!
The New York Times leads with a great story on the fact that workers across the country are working fewer hours. For blue-coller workers, this means a lack of overtime pay that has traditionally been a staple of their salaries. Since talk of the recession has mostly focused on stock prices, I would say that this is today’s must-read. All the people involved in the wall street stories are still making more than $450 a week – trust me.
The Air Force spent $50 million through a blatantly corrupt process on a company to “jazz up” the Thunderbirds air show. That bid was more than twice the next lowest bid and the company barely exists. The whole thing was apparently designed to reward a former Air Force General and senior-level Air Force personelle were involved. It is a small amount of money (for the Pentagon), but the real news behind this story is buried in the 5th paragraph:
According to the report, Goldfein even arranged for President Bush to record a video testimonial in the White House Map Room that was included in the SMS contract proposal, demonstrating the company’s credibility and access.
I am pretty sure the President isn’t supposed to do that. Here’s hoping the video hits Youtube.
Iraq and baseball (not related) after the jump