Bonus time. Goldman Sachs will receive $1 billion if the troubled commercial lender CIT files for bankruptcy protection, the Financial Times reports. U.S. taxpayers, meanwhile, would lose $2.3 billion if the lender files for Chapter 11. Goldman extended a financial rescue package to CIT in 2008, just a few months before the U.S. Treasury bought over $2 billion in CIT shares to prevent it from going under during the height of the crisis. Goldman is entitled to demand the full billion under their agreement, but would probably agree to a delay in the payment, sources say. CIT is working to stave off bankruptcy through a debt exchange offer that would wipe out its equity holders. Goldman also holds credit insurance that would be paid off in the event CIT goes under. “The credit default swaps Goldman Sachs purchased to prudently manage the risk associated with the CIT financing are not a directional ‘bet’ on CIT, but were bought to protect against the possibility of a precipitous decline in the value of the collateral,” Goldman said.

After the joblessness rate hit a 26-year high at 9.8 percent, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has predicted that unemployment will pass 10 percent before things start to improve. "This is an extraordinary period and temporary actions must be taken,” Greenspan said on This Week, advocating benefits such as tax credits for health insurance in order to “assuage the angst” of the increasing number of unemployed Americans. Greenspan differentiated these benefits from stimulus programs, and spoke out against the possibility of a second stimulus package in light of recent signs of economic improvement. Even so, Greenspan assessed Friday’s jobs report as “pretty awful,” warning that "people who are out of work for very protracted periods of time lose their skills eventually."

The United Nations' nuclear agency has found that Iran has acquired “sufficient information to be able to design and produce a workable” atom bomb, according to the agency’s report. The conclusions are tentative, the report stresses, and based on information from intelligence agencies and its own investigations. American intelligence officials said two years ago that Iran had stopped trying to design a nuclear weapon in 2003, but Britain, Germany, France, and Israel have disputed that finding in the past few months. Iran has done extensive research and testing on how to make each component of a weapon, the report found. The report represents the analysis of the U.N. agency’s senior staff, but its departing director, Mohamed ElBaradei, does not want the report made public and has cautioned that they have no concrete proof that Iran wants to make nuclear arms. Iran has agreed to allow inspectors this month to visit its most recently unmasked site in Qom, which it claims would only enrich uranium to produce nuclear power.

President Obama took his chances on a high-profile visit to Copenhagen because the White House was getting a "clear message" that his presence could clinch the Olympics for Chicago, The Chicago Tribune reports. "The intelligence that we had from the U.S. Olympic Committee and Chicago bid team was that it was very close and therefore well worth our efforts," said Valerie Jarrett, a senior White House adviser. "The message was that...a personal appeal from the president would make a huge difference." President Obama first tried lobbying quietly through phone calls, and had not decided until a few days before getting on Air Force One that he would appear to make his bid in person. His failure to secure the Olympic bid has become fodder for the president's critics.

Be careful what you wish for. Now that he's won the Olympics, Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva faces a truly unenviable task: ridding Rio de Janeiro of its violent crime before the world's athletes come calling in 2016. "The security problem is very serious," one Brazilian athletic official told Bloomberg News. There are stats to prove it: Home to 7 million people, Rio is one of the most violent cities in the world, recording 2,069 murders last year. According to the United Nations, the police are responsible for one in five of those killings.

National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones refuted the idea that President Obama is affected by political pressure in deciding whether or not to send more troops to Afghanistan. "The strategy does not belong to any political party," Jones said Sunday. "And I can assure you that the president of the United States is not playing to any political base." U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice took a similar stance on Sunday. But House liberals are already organizing against Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for additional troops. They introduced a bill last week with 21 co-sponsors to prohibit sending more soldiers. A troop increase could face stiff opposition in the Senate, as well. The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Sunday that a surge in Afghan troops, not U.S. troops, is needed. And even Vice President Joe Biden is reported to not favor a surge. Eight U.S. troops were killed over the weekend in an attack near the Pakistan border, ramping up both sides of the debate. Obama is expected to make his decision within a few weeks.

Things are looking less than golden in California these days. The economy is so weak out West that one economist recently declared, "California is on the verge of becoming the first failed state in America." Writing in The Guardian, Paul Harris finds areas of Los Angeles that remind him of New Orleans post-Katrina. The city has a poverty rate of 20 percent. Things may only get worse for the state financially, while California's irrepressible governor keeps fighting against the cynics. "There is people [sic] that sometimes suggest that the American Dream, or the Californian dream, is evaporating. I think it's absolutely wrong. I think the Californian dream is as strong as ever," Arnold Schwarzenegger tells critics.

In a case of unfortunate timing, Barack Obama’s chief energy advisor Carol Browner has voiced skepticism over a climate change bill happening this year, just as new studies have shown that pollution is making the Arctic Ocean inhospitably acidic. Researchers recently discovered that the massive amounts of pollution going into the ocean—around six million tons of carbon a day—are making oceans increasingly acidic to the point where the water will dissolve the shells of shellfish, a trend an oceanographer summed up in an understatement as “extremely worrying.” By 2018, 10 percent of the Arctic will be corrosively acidic, but with the U.S. political system mired in messy arguments over reform in health care and on Wall Street, Browner said passing a climate change bill this fall is “not going to happen.” Recently, Democrats in the senate put forth a bill proposing to cut emissions 20 percent by 2020.

A brush fire in the San Gabriel Mountains is burning out of control Sunday, destroying three structures and forcing the evacuation of 3,400 residents. The fire has already charred 3,500 acres of timber. Firefighters hope to stop the blaze in its tracks southeast of Wrightwood, a community of about 1,000 homes. More than 500 firefighters are battling the blaze, which was only 10 percent contained as of Sunday morning. The cause of the fire, which started Saturday afternoon, is unknown. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency.

Iran's Holocaust-denying leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, might have changed his last name to hide his Jewish roots, the Daily Telegraph reports. A photo of Ahmadinejad holding up his identity card reveals his last name used to be Sabourjian, a Jewish name meaning "cloth weaver," before his family changed it after converting to Islam. The "jian" at the end of the name means the family were practicing Jews, according to one expert. The name is on a list of reserved names for Iranian Jews kept by the Ministry of the Interior. Ahmadinejad’s virulent attacks against Jews might be a sort of overcompensation to hide his roots in a radical Shia society, experts say. Ahmadinejad has admitted his family changed their name but has not said why.

Hell hath no fury like a U.N. representative scorned—Peter Galbraith, who was the second-highest-ranking U.N. official in Afghanistan until being fired last week, took to the pages of The Washington Post today to criticize his former bosses at the U.N. for their handling of the nation’s recent elections. Galbraith frankly discusses his firing by Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon (along with requests not to talk to the press), and says that according to his research, as many as 30 percent of the votes that won the election for Hamid Karzai were fraudulent, indicative of a pervasive problem in Afghan politics. He calls the election, which was managed by Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission instead of the U.N., a “foreseeable train wreck” and, more worryingly, “the greatest strategic victory in eight years” for the Taliban. According to Galbraith, higher-ups at the U.N. instructed him and his staff not to release their findings or evidence of fraud.

Is this the beginning of the end for reality TV? At the start of the new season networks have posted dismal numbers, mainly because their reality-show ratings powerhouses have been less reliable. On ABC, new scripted programming like Modern Family opened to critical and commercial success, but big reality shows like Dancing With the Stars have started to lose ground. This is worrisome for networks that often schedule hours of programming around one big reality show. One network executive said, "You get more of a cratering effect if the show declines…These shows take up more space than a normal show.” Still, when reality shows do well the payoff is huge for networks, so don’t expect the disappearance of tribal councils or Simon Cowell for another few years.

Funnyman David Letterman’s secret to his apparent success with women may be his bachelor pad of an office at his CBS studio. In the wake of a blackmail attempt over his alleged affair with a staffer, details are pouring out about the late-night host’s supposed “love nest,” which includes a fold-out bed and kitchen, and is off-limits to all but a few co-workers. Stephanie Birkitt, ex-girlfriend of Letterman’s alleged blackmailer Robert Halderman, is among those speculated to have logged hours in the unconventional office Letterman sometimes stays in after his long commute from home. Of the recent media blitz surrounding the affair, Birkitt’s father said that he “guessed” his daughter was OK, adding, “It’s a tough time. That’s really all I can say.” Since Letterman himself broke the news of the scandal, he’s reversed roles to become a national punchline—last night on Saturday Night Live, Seth Myers commented that after sex Letterman would say, "Stay tuned for Craig Ferguson."

Government officials are worried that, despite their best efforts, people won’t get a shot to protect themselves against swine flu. A recent survey suggests that only 40 percent of Americans said they were sure they would line up for the vaccine. Authorities are shocked at the tepid response. "It's surprising numbers are as low as they are," one researcher said. Some expressed optimism that those who say they do not want to be vaccinated will be convinced. One proponent told The Washington Post, "If the early acceptors show up, and they have a good experience, as more vaccine comes in some of the skeptics may be persuaded to come in and take advantage themselves."

The International Olympic Committee may have given them the cold shoulder after their Chicago pitch this week, but at least the Obamas still have each other. Barack and Michelle Obama stepped out in Washington, D.C. last night for a dinner celebrating their 17th wedding anniversary, with the first lady wearing a characteristically chic backless dress. After a recent date in New York City drew criticism from commentators on the right for overspending, the president and first lady didn’t stray too far from the White House this time, and rode via motorcade (not helicopter) to D.C.’s Blue Duck Tavern for the occasion.

"I'm here, my friends, because frankly I need the money." That's what Monty Python star John Cleese told those gathered in Oslo to see his act, as the comedian began his appropriately named How to Finance Your Divorce Tour. Cleese has hit the road to raise nearly $20 million for his ex-wife Alyce Eichelberger, thanks to a ruling from a California court. Cleese isn't pulling any punches: "To comfort me," he said Friday, "my lawyer told me to imagine how much I would have had to pay if Alyce had contributed anything to the relationship—such as children, or a conversation."

She’s already shown herself to be a more open public persona than your average Supreme Court justice, and now speculation is mounting on how Justice Sonia Sotomayor will change the dynamic of the court when its new session begins Monday. Though the new judge is largely expected to side with the liberal-leaning members of the court, it remains to be seen how her personality will effect the dynamic of the bench. “This will be a very different court,” said Justice Anthony Kennedy. Given Sotomayor’s background as a prosecutor and a trial judge, some predict that she will show more sympathy to law-enforcement cases that come before the court. And with one new justice in place, pundits are now on retirement watch for the two judges most likely to step down during Obama’s term—Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Paul Stevens.

The Senate Finance Committee has nearly finished its work on health-care legislation and now Democratic leaders in the White House and Senate are faced with finding a compromise between a moderate bill from the finance committee and a more liberal one produced by the health committee. There's plenty of wrangling to be done with the two bills, but at least one senator is optimistic. "With some work and some compromise, we can get the 60 votes on the floor of the Senate—which we don't have now, I admit that," Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), told the Los Angeles Times. The finance committee's final vote is expected this week.

As news breaks this morning that eight U.S. troops were killed in a deadly battle in a remote Afghan village, the new head of Britain's army said that the prospect of defeat in Afghanistan is "terrifying" and that failure there would be "unimaginable." General Sir David Richards' comments to The Sunday Telegraph come at a time when America's leading officer for Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, has called for an increase in troops in the region. "If you put in more troops, we can achieve the objectives laid upon us more quickly and with less casualties," Richards said, making a bold stand in a country where the fight has become increasingly unpopular.