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from Rolfe Winkler:
Morning Links 1-7
Tim Geithner covered up AIG's payments to counterparties (DealBook) Timmy G. knew it looked bad for AIG to pay out 100¢ on the dollar to counterparties like Goldman. So he told AIG to shut up.
Obama buget will raise "carried interest" tax (Comstock, Business Insider) Awesome proposal from the Prez. Recall that hedge-funders and PE guys can treat their partnership income as capital gains. As a result they're only taxed at 15% instead of normal income tax rates of 35%. Last time this came up, Chuck Schumer killed it. This time it's likely to happen.
Obama OKs taxing high-end health plans (Werner, AP) Another good move. It's Republicans who've argued that such health plans should be taxed so this will get bipartisan support if Dems get on board. Unions oppose it so this demonstrates some backbone from Obama.
New Japanese finance minister calls for more stimulus, weaker yen (Kajomoto/White, Reuters) Debt surpassing 200% of GDP doesn't faze the new guy...
California hosts garage sale to raise funds
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is pulling out all the stops with the state’s “garage sale” of unclaimed or unneeded merchandise. The idea came to him via a “tweet,” he’s using his Hollywood cache to juice bidding and it’s all in the name of belt tightening.
The LA Times has the story:
In his latest effort to balance the budget, the governor is cleaning out the state’s storage sheds and holding a garage sale on Craigslist and EBay.
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The Wall
