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News In Brief

MID-DAY UPDATE: "No to Austerity" — chants and strikes across Europe

Bill Radke Sep 29, 2010

The Mid-Day Update is a five-day-a-week podcast from the Marketplace Morning Report co-hosted by Bill Radke and Steve Chiotakis that wraps up the morning news in a fun little package. Listen here every day at 10 a.m. PT or download it to your iPod by subscribing to the Morning Report Podcast.

Tens of thousands of Europeans are protesting today, against government austerity measures meant to cut public deficits. Protesters are angry that some European financial companies got bailed out in the crisis, while the public is bearing spending cuts, pension reductions and tax increases.

Another reverberation of the Big Meltdown: The government is trying to unwind the taxpayer bailout of AIG. Government officials are meeting with the world’s biggest insurance company today to consider an exit plan.

Amtrak has released a 30-year vision for high-speed rail travel along the busy Northeast corridor. The government-funded rail company wants to spend more than $4 billion a year. We look at what we’ll get for our money.

New trade sanctions against Iran take effect today — they include a ban on Iranian pistachio imports. Geopolitics must feel pretty good to American pistachio growers.

And on a trippier note, a new book says there are important marketing lessons to be learned from the Grateful Dead.

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