Marketplace Scratch Pad

Morning Reading

Scott Jagow Dec 18, 2009

Happy Friday. Here’s what I’ve been reading and viewing so far:

More jobs jive (Investors.com):

So it’s no longer debatable: Based on what was promised, the stimulus has failed. Even so, we now may get another one (called a “jobs bill” this time), which no doubt will be just as wasteful.

At the same time, we hear things like the following from the mouth of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “As I told the members this morning, I’m in campaign mode … I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m in campaign mode.”

The dollar’s woes are nothing to joke about (Bloomberg):

It would be fun and games if not for an experience I had recently in Hanoi: merchants were far less keen on taking my dollars than a year ago. It’s an important man-on-the-street sign of the dollar’s plight, one that may grow as Asian central banks protect their holdings.

A positive outlook on the economy (Real Clear Markets)

French court finds Google Books guilty (Fast Company)

Citigroup vs Wells Fargo: Round 3 (Wall Street Journal):

The bad blood keeps flowing between Citigroup and Wells Fargo. The latest incident came this week when Wells got out ahead of Citigroup’s $20 billion stock offering and priced its own $12 billion offering to pay back its government bail out.

Democrats threaten their own health overhaul (NPR)

The Marketplace Minute with Bill Radke (Marketplace Morning Report) The week’s business news in a one-minute poem:

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