This might seem like nitpicking to some, but why does the U.S. news media refer to Barack Obama as "President-elect?"
According to the Constitution, the presidential election happens December 15th, when state electors cast their votes for president.
Shouldn't he be referred to as "presumptive president-elect?"
Should some scandal erupt between now and December 15th, such as Obama being involved somehow in a crime, the electors could choose John McCain - or some other candidate for president.
So the presidential election has not been decided yet.
Remember when we were just bitching about a $700 billion bailout to favored banks in the financial industry? Well, break out your spare zeros. Forbes reports that the total is much, much higher -- and still growing.
For all the fury over Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's $700 billion emergency economic relief fund, it seems downright puny when compared to the running total of the government's response to the credit crisis.
According to CreditSights, a research firm in New York and London, the U.S. government has put itself on the hook for some $5 trillion, so far, in an attempt to arrest a collapse of the financial system....