Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Europe hasn’t been saved: “Sobriety displaced euphoria in Europe on Friday as new developments signaled that the debt crisis was far from over, deflating a market rally that had followed a show of resolve by European leaders. Italy was obliged to pay the highest rate in more than a decade to sell a new bond issue, a sign that investors remained wary of the country’s political paralysis and a debt load equal to 120 percent of yearly economic output.”
* BOA backpedals: “Bank of America Corp, after receiving heavy public criticism for a planned $5 per-month debit card fee, is likely to give customers more ways to avoid the fee, a person familiar with the bank’s plans said Friday.”
* The BOA blowback was noticed throughout the industry: “A month after Bank of America got pummeled by consumers and politicians for introducing plans for new debit-card fees, most other big U.S. banks are steering clear of imposing similar charges.”
* House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) thinks energy subsidies are wrong — unless he can get a $2 billion loan guarantee for a nuclear plant in his home state.
* If I had to pick the Paul Ryan’s worst quality, I’d probably go with the frequency with which he says things that aren’t true.
* Now, it’s official: the Justice Department did not pay $16 for muffins. Let us never speak of it again.
* Republicans are accusing the Affordable Care Act of including a “marriage penalty.” Jonathan Cohn explains why they really don’t want to go down that road.
* Breitbart picks up $10 million in equity funding from undisclosed investors. That’ll finance all kinds of nonsense.
* Congrats to Eli Lake on his new Daily Beast gig.
* And there’s been a flurry of Senate activity this week on, of all thing, NCAA conference membership. As the dust settles, it looks like the final score is Joe Manchin 1, Mitch McConnell 0.
#board-2412
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle
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