NPR is worried its listeners will not know which set of financially inept radio taxocrats they're sending all their hard-earned money to, presumably because their total libtard sheeple. "There's plenty of opportunity for confusion," NPR's flack told the Wall Street Journal.

Ha ha, of course there is, just look what happened in Boston:

At WJIB, a commercially licensed oldies station... a listener once sent a check with the subject line marked "WGBH" — a prominent local public-radio station. Owner Bob Bittner says he sent the check back.

Oh, liberals, never knowing who to send their checks to.

Anyway, it should be pretty easy to keep the two left-leaning radio organizations straight: One pays taxes and has faced financial issues and management shakeups; the other doesn't pay taxes and has faced... financial issues and management shakeups. Hmm.

Maybe it's better to focus on the gifts: NPR will give you tote bags, DVDs and hand-cranked radios; Air America would probably offer, more impressively, "access to Air America talent and tickets to special events." (Read: More teabagging with Ana Marie Cox and Rachel Maddow.)

[WSJ]

Conservative media outlets are obviously doing much, much better, due to their innate business savvy and understanding of free markets (*cough*).

(Image via)

Economist Willem Buiter recently wrote in the Financial Times that Britain faced "sovereign default," which almost sounds like a classy cocktail but which really means the whole empire goes broke, because Britain spent trillions of dollars bailing out its stupid banks (sound familiar?).

Business journalist Will Hutton noted in the Guardian that Britain's heavy dependence on financial services left the country looking like "a gigantic hedge fund" whose "fall could get out of hand." But the indomitable British spirit compelled Hutton to add, triumphantly, "we may muddle through."

As John Quiggan writes, these impending national failures signal a reprise of the 1930s, which is probably why President Hope is running around manically assembling his cabinet as fast as possible: pretty soon all the money is going to be gone, forever, so if president-elect Obama is going to puts dibs on anything or stanch the flow, now is the time to act.

The U.S. press has been so slammed covering the more-than-daily financial crises that it hasn't had any time to look even a few months down the road, which is just as well because the holidays will soon be upon us and who wants to ruin that with talk of rationing and revolution?

But the British media (FT especially) was ahead of the curve in highlighting warning signs about the liquidity crisis, so it's a good bet the term "sovereign insolvency" will eventually saturate the U.S. pundit class like so much cheap hobo moonshine. Maybe just in time for Christmas!

IvyGate

One of my friends at Bank of America texted me, 'Hey, we might be buying you guys.' ...I was shocked I would be joining a lower-tier commercial bank.

...Changing compensation will obviously change the attitude of students toward the industry. They might go to med school or law school instead [the horror!]. This is a sad week.

...I'm not sure we want state-owned enterprises.

If you think the complaints are bad now, just wait until more hedge funds start closing.

Come on, federal government, approve a $700 billion bailout for Wall Street with no caps on executive compensation so these poor Ivy Leaguers can get back to improving the American economy again. What are they supposed to do, light their cigars with twenties??

[IvyGate]

(Image from Wall Street via National Journal)