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The early reports on Christmas shopping are in, and the news is as brutal as we'd feared: The Great Recession is making Americans frugal. Retail store traffic fell 24 percent on the last weekend before Christmas Day, making for the worst holiday shopping season in four decades. Sales were off 5.3 percent, according to the Chicago-based research firm ShopperTrak RCT Corp., despite jaw-dropping discounts of 70 percent at such heavy hitters as Macy's and Saks. “The week after Christmas is going to be more crucial for retailers than ever,” a spokesman for the National Retail Federation told Bloomberg. “The Friday after Christmas, with the discounts we’re hearing about, is going to be like another Black Friday.”
The Bush administration post mortems keep pouring in, the latest from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who sat down with CBS Sunday Morning for an interview to air the Sunday after Christmas. In between defending the decision to invade Iraq—"it's not a popularity contest," she insists—and talking up America's current standing in international circles, Rice dishes a little on interpersonal Cabinet relations. Asked if she managed to get through every meeting with former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld without shouting, she allows, “Oh, I won't say that...I've not won every internal debate, but one thing that you have to understand is they are debates. They're not fights to the death between people.”
Chrysler could just have taken the bailout money and run, but the company's chronic politeness is setting off fierce criticism. The company purchased full page ads this week in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and USA Today thanking Americans for "investing" (their words) in Chrysler, prompting a swift and devastating response from billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. On his personal blog, Cuban called the move "idiotic" and asked, "How does it make the next unemployed Chrysler worker feel that their entire year's salary just went for a single, ridiculous ad?" We asked Chrysler for a response and a spokesperson sent over a statement: "With the recent announcement by the White House, Chrysler LLC has the initial injection of working capital necessary to help bridge the liquidity crisis the industry is facing and help return the Company to profitability. The ad thanks America for this investment in Chrysler. As the process evolves, many individuals will have opinions. The Company has no higher priority than to satisfy the loan conditions laid out last Friday by the Government. As a result, Chrysler will not comment on individual opinion." The spokesperson added that "the overall purpose of the ad was to reinforce our long-term commitment to America."
Hillary Clinton is ending the year on an up note, as secretary of state-in-waiting, but there is one niggling negative left over from 2008: her $6.3 million campaign debt. Obama has worked (though some would snipe not enough) to whittle down the figure, but now she’s come up with an innovative way to retire the rest—with the Big Dog’s help. She’s selling access to the huge email list her presidential campaign compiled, and the William J. Clinton Foundation is buying in. No word yet on how much Bill paid up; aides said only that it was a “fair market” price.
Unemployment has hit a 26-year high, the Labor Department reported on Christmas Eve. "First-time applications for state unemployment benefits jumped by 30,000 to a seasonally adjusted 586,000 in the week ending Dec. 20," according to MarketWatch—a level not seen since November 1982. "This is a pretty clean number," a Labor Department spokesman said. Noting that layoffs have hit nearly every manufacturing sector, he added: "It's crazy." Consumer spending, meanwhile, slipped 0.6 percent year-to-year.
The recount in the Senate race between Al Franken and Norm Coleman is moving so slowly that Minnesota may be short one senator when the new Congress meets next month. State officials postponed a decision on what to do with certain disputed ballots to January 5, meaning that a winner may not be declared before Congress convenes on January 6. Al Franken holds a narrow, double digit advantage in the race, which Coleman initially led before the recount.
Taking his cue from his boss, President "The Buck Stops Anywhere Else" Bush, embattled SEC Chairman Christopher Cox says his agency is in tip-top shape, despite presiding over an unprecedented financial meltdown and the $50 billion Bernie Madoff fraud. In his first interview since the Madoff case broke, Cox said monitoring the investment banks that went under during the financial crisis was not his agency's responsibility and that the Madoff case was "a big asterisk" on an otherwise strong record of enforcement. He said the agency's "steady hand" has been its "signal achievement"—a veiled attack on the more active Fed and Treasury Dept.—but critics contend that Cox's proud passivity contributed to the meltdown in the first place and let crooks like Madoff raid the store without notice. He will be replaced by Obama pick Mary Schapiro next year.
‘Tis the season to pinch pennies. In an uncharacteristic move for any studio, much less the stalwart House of Mickey, Disney has decided to drop The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the next film scheduled to be adapted from C.S. Lewis' seven Narnia books, reports The Hollywood Reporter. The move is being blamed on budgets and logistics; a director and talent are already attached to the film, with filming set to begin in the spring. Co-producer Walden Media must search for a new partner for the follow-up to Prince Caspian, whose estimated budget was $200 million and which grossed only $141 million domestically. After the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings franchises garnered boffo box office, it appears the fantasy genre is finally faltering (see: The Golden Compass).
Let's hope the Obamas and the Bidens have their dancing shoes ready. The incoming first and second couples are set to attend ten official inaugural balls at five locations, including six at the Washington Convention Center. (The other four will be at the National Building Museum, Union Station, the Washington Hilton Hotel, and the D.C. Armory.) Invites haven't been mailed out yet, but tickets for a top sponsorship package, which includes the day's festivities, run up to $50,000. So how does Obama's schedule of ten inaugural balls compare with that of earlier presidents? Reagan had ten also, while Clinton hit a record 14 in 1997. Bush went to eight in 2001 and nine in 2005.
President Bush departed the White House on Tuesday for his 12th and last Christmas at Camp David. He'll be joined by his wife, his parents, his daughters, and son-in-law, as well as siblings including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. On the menu? Enchiladas, roast turkey, and cornbread dressing. After the holiday at the presidential getaway in Maryland, the Bushes are off to their ranch in Crawford, Texas, for a weeklong break.
Merry Christmas, Will Ferrell! The holidays came early for the comedian's website, Funny or Die. A single secret benefactor donated $3 million in cash to the online venture, reports the New York Daily News. The video site burst onto the scene in April 2007 with The Landlord, a short film that made apartment dwellers everywhere grateful that 2-year-old Pearl wasn’t rapping on their doors looking for back rent. Other notable videos included Paris Hilton’s bikini-clad retort to John McCain’s “celebrity” advertisement mocking then-presidential candidate Barack Obama and others starring celebrity contributors James Franco and Judd Apatow.
Rod Blagojevich, who somehow is still governor of Illinois, faces a twin attack of federal prosecution and impeachment proceedings. Now the US attorney behind Blago's indictment, Patrick "Merry Fitzmas" Fitzgerald, is telling the Illinois legislature not to use documents and witnesses that are part of the legal case against the governor, as it would "significantly compromise the ongoing criminal investigation." The Illinois House still has plenty to work with, however—Fitzgerald said a separate hiring fraud scandal that Blago is under investigation for is fair game for legislators.
So much for Bush’s promise that whoever leaked Valerie Plame’s name would be found and punished. According to a secret FBI report leaked to investigative reporter Murray Waas, Dick Cheney admitted to FBI investigators he deliberately rewrote briefing notes for the press to ensure the name of Plame, a CIA agent, would be revealed, to punish her husband Joe Wilson for doubting the existence of Saddam’s WMD program. “That Cheney, by his own admission, had revised the talking points in an effort to have the reporters examine who sent Wilson on the very same day that his chief of staff was disclosing to Miller Plame’s identity as a CIA officer may be the most compelling evidence to date that Cheney himself might have directed Libby to disclose Plame’s identity to Miller and other reporters,” Waas concludes. Libby’s deliberate obfuscation, even though it ensured his conviction for hindering a federal investigation, will ensure that it will never be known whether Cheney ordered Plame’s name leaked, Waas reports.
Not so fast. That's what some New York Democrats are saying as Caroline Kennedy seeks to present herself as the inevitable successor to Hillary Clinton's Senate seat. Gov. David Paterson, charged with making the appointment, is now "frustrated and chagrined" by her camp's strategy, The New York Times reports. "You have people going around saying, 'Oh yeah, it's a done deal,'" an adviser said. "The quickest way to not get something you want is to step into somebody's face." State Dems are also troubled by Kennedy's ties to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent, and her refusal to publicly back a Democratic mayoral candidate. Though it's unclear if Kennedy's odds are damaged, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver publicly advised Paterson not to choose her and Rep. Jerry Nadler said he's also interested in the job.
Barack Obama was pretty slick when he gave Hillary Clinton a Cabinet gig, but it's hard to top Vladimir Putin's latest hire when it comes to co-opting a political rival. The Russian prime minister recently appointed as a regional governor Nikita Y. Belykh, a leading liberal critic of Putin's regime who had grown tired of his movement's ineffectiveness. "When you have nothing at all, when you cannot even get close in the elections, when all your paths are being cut off, then you just can’t have a political party,” Belykh said.
Car purchases are down across the board, but the SUV is in danger of becoming extinct, after a 40 percent decline in sales this year. Three of the few remaining SUV factories have closed recently, including General Motors plants in Wisconsin and Ohio on Tuesday that left about 1,000 workers unemployed at each location. A surge in gas prices this year made the big cars a hard sell, ending an era in which SUVs dominated the market.
President-elect Obama has bid farewell to the woman who helped raised him, his grandmother Madelyn Dunham. At a small memorial service in Hawaii attended by Obama's family and friends, Dunham's ashes were scattered along the shore. Obama frequently mentioned his grandmother on the campaign trail and described her at a rally on the day of her death as "one of those quiet heroes that we have all across America."
If Howard Wolfson could keep Hillary in it to win it for so long, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg thinks the former Clinton aide and loyal flack can secure him a third term. Wolfson will join Bloomberg's re-election effort in January "as the mayor ramps up his political operation for what could prove to be a more bruising contest than his 2005 race," City Room reports. Wolfson, also a former Fox News analyst, will "serve as the public face of his campaign."
Hard to believe, but seven-time Tour de France winner and testicular cancer survivor Lance Armstrong is going to be a father again. Girlfriend Anna Hansen is pregnant with the couple's first child. "We are very much looking forward to what 2009 brings on many fronts," he said in a statement. Armstrong, a survivor of testicular, lung, and brain cancer, had three children through in vitro fertilization with his ex-wife.
The iconic Barbie turns the big 5-0 next year, but Mattel is refusing to let her scamper tip-toed into the sunset. Though the unnaturally proportioned plastic doll generates more than $1 billion in annual revenue, the product's brand manager admits, "We lost our way...We had lost a whole piece of the business, the older girl." So just in time for the recession, Mattel is giving Barbie a makeover that includes fresh trademark-pink packaging (hue PMS219), a more global aesthetic inspired by Vogue magazine, an edgier look to appeal to today's tweens, and flagship store experiences like those mastered by the company's American Girl brand.
Recession? What recession? The New York Yankees, already owners of the league's highest payroll, are spending like there's no tomorrow, signing free-agent first baseman Mark Teixeira to a $180 million eight-year contract. The Yankees already made waves this off-season by signing pitchers C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett to top dollar contracts, putting their spending this offseason at a mind-blowing $420 million.
The Mumbai terror attacks, which killed more than 170 people, ratcheted up tensions between nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan, but Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says he would not unilaterally attack Pakistan. Singh would employ international pressure to force Pakistan to crack down on terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is suspected of being behind the November 26 attacks. "The issue is not war. The issue is terror and territory in Pakistan being used to provoke, to aid and abet terrorism," Singh said. "Nobody wants war."
The Obama team has given itself a clean bill of health over dealings with Blagojevich. Although Obama had no direct contact with the governor accused of trying to sell his Senate seat, he expressed to close aides, who were in contact with the governor or his staff, names he would like to see succeed him. These were relayed to the governor and later with his chief of staff, John Harris, by Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s chief of staff. Later Obama made clear he did not want to influence the decision. The exact number of conversations Emanuel had – widely reported as 21 – was not revealed. According to the report, “There was no mention of efforts by the governor or his staff to extract a personal benefit in return for filling the Senate vacancy.” The report has two surprises: Dr Eric Whitaker, an Obama family friend, fielded calls from the deputy governor, Louanner Peters, about the seat; and Obama did not answer inquiries about Blago links because Fitzgerald had yet to interview Obama and the others.
Wal-Mart will pay up to $640 million to settle some 63 lawsuits alleging that the company bilked its employees out of rest and lunch breaks. Observers say the move by the famously anti-union superstore is preparation for a major battle in Congress over the Obama-backed Employee Free Choice Act, which could make it easier for Wal Mart workers to form a union. "This is part of their overall strategy to get their labor house in order, and compared to what unionization might cost them, I think they probably realized it was a small price to pay," a law professor told The Wall Street Journal.
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