by Michael Gallis - Michael Gallis & Associates

The cover of today’s Washington Post looks at the renewed momentum in Washington for reexamining the severe limitations on economic exchanges between the U.S. and Cuba.  The article mentions the Chamber’s efforts to loosen the travel restrictions, which Obama is expected to do by the time he goes to the Summit of the Americas in mid-April.  Here is our letter to Congress supporting H.R.

The President will spend his week juggling plans to address the domestic auto crisis and global financial meltdown. Things started off with a bang yesterday when administration used the threat of withholding more bailout money to force out GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner and offered some harsh medicine for Chrysler. In addition to pushing out Wagoner, the President’s Auto Task Force is in the process of replacing the majority of GM’s directors.

The Wall Street Journal had an excellent editorial about the Massachusetts health reform plan, and what we are learning from that undertaking. They seized on the extreme cost overruns the state is now facing:

by Brad Peck

The employee interviews behind this story:

One more to add to the Project No Project list, presenting the un-stimulus in action:

In the past two weeks, I have described examples of the private sector, in partnership with public and nonprofit sectors, working together to address challenges in global development.

Yesterday Wall Street Journal columnist Daniel Henninger notes that Congressional Democrats have bid adieu to the business community, they have become entirely disconnected from any understanding of how the private sector works. He wrote:

In an editorial this morning the Wall Street Journal responds to the increasing abuse of their editorial from a week ago, background here, here, and here. The WSJ is happy that "George Miller Loves Us" but feels that it is "Too bad he and Big Labor can't read."  From the editori

Reaction to Secretary Geithner's ambitious plans to reform financial regulations got mixed reactions among members of Congress and the business community. Republican Rep. Spencer Bachus had a very lukewarm response, saying it was "unacceptable" to have the government subsidize the cost of "resolving" troubled institutions, and that he hoped there would be more hearings to discuss the issue.

After breaking down mark to market accounting this morning Tom Quaadman went on CNBC to talk capital markets with Carlos Gutierrez, Andrew Metrick, and Rebecca Jarvis.

The Card Check Cons are now actually paying to EFCA up the meaning of this Wall Street Journal editorial -- click for pic.  I don't know why American Rights at Work is spending money on this ad, they can't possibly support card check given the language of their most recent

In today’s Washington Post, former Securities and Exchange Commissioner Arthur Levitt raises some interesting points about the independence of accounting standard setters. However, the larger picture needs to be framed to understand the issues at hand.

As the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today holds another in their series of hearings to examine our energy challenges (this one to discuss improving industrial efficiency), it seems like a good time to take a step back and look at how Congress will proceed on energy and climate issues this year.  Some Congressional leaders and

So far in this series I’ve examined the fallout of the current economic situation and discussed several of the ways corporate citizens are stepping up to cushion the blow and help jump-start the recovery.

We Are In This Together

BCLC has identified five basic areas where companies are committed to minimizing the impact of the crisis:

President Obama's $3.6 trillion budget continues to take heat from both sides of the aisle. House budget leaders on the Democratic side have unveiled their own version of an FY2010 budget blueprint that slices off more than $100 billion from Obama's proposal. They may seek further cuts in light of the public's concern about spending and debt levels.

Calitics responds and obfuscates on my earlier post on EFCA.  Ok, let's go through the process under EFCA again. We start with union organizers trying to get workers to sign cards, once they get 30% of the cards signed they can request an election -- i.e. they have the option of giving workers the option to voice their wishes in private. This option of benevolence exists up to 50% of cards signed.

On CNBC this morning Tom Donohue clearly laid out the card check issue:

With Sen. Specter's announcement that he will not vote for cloture on Card Check the, already desperate, pro-union side is scrambling. Here is a group trying to force Sen. Feinstein to declare her support fro EFCA:

In yesterday’s post, I examined the impact and fallout of the current economic situation. So what are corporate citizens doing about it?

During this economic crisis, corporate citizens are operating at multiple levels.