• Frederic O'Neal, Chair of the "Tea Party"
• Dan Gainor of the Business and Media Institute.

• First it was tax day protests, then it was town hall meetings...now it's a newly registered political party...are they kidding?!
• Should we put the gambling regulators in charge of our economy?
• Eco-nuts vs Al Qaeda…really?

• Get The Party Started, Pink (video).
• Piggies, George Harrison, Beatles (video).
• Ship Of Fools, World Party.
• Breaking the Law, Judas Priest.
• Listen To The Radio, Nanci Griffith.
• Don't Bring Me Down, Electric Light Orchestra.
• Crazy, Gnarls Barkley.
• Happy Anniversary, Little River Band.
• Ghost Chickens in the Sky, Sean Morey.
• Big Yellow Taxi, Counting Crows. (video).
• Political World, Bob Dylan.
• Democracy, Leonard Cohen.

"I trust Congress will soon provide similar opportunities to members of the merchant marine who have risked their lives time and time again during war for the welfare of their country."

President Roosevelt as he signed the G.I. Bill in June 1944

"Goldman Sachs pays its employees more than other financial groups because its employees are more productive, declared Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman chief executive, at an industry conference yesterday.

Mr Blankfein offered a wide-ranging defence of his company yesterday to an audience of banking analysts at a conference sponsored by Bank of America. His comments came as public debate continues over Goldman's power and bonuses.

"I often hear references to higher compensation at Goldman," said Mr Blankfein. "What people fail to mention is that net income generated per head is a multiple of our peer average. The people of Goldman Sachs are among the most productive in the world."

Mr Blankfein produced a slide during his presentation showing that Goldman's pre-tax profit margins, at 29 per cent, were10 percentage points higher than the average for other financial groups in the Fortune 500 this decade, and higher than in other industries such as energy, healthcare and consumer staples. The average forFortune 500 companies was 8 per cent."

"Are we in like Manner to be given up to the Disposal of the East India Company, who have now the Assurance, to step forth in Aid of the Minister, to execute his Plan, of enslaving America? Their Conduct in Asia, for some Years past, has given simple Proof, how little they regard the Laws of Nations, the Rights, Liberties, or Lives of Men. … Fifteen hundred Thousands, it is said, perished by Famine in one Year, not because the Earth denied its Fruits; but [because] this Company and their Servants engulfed all the Necessaries of Life, and set them at so high a Rate that the poor could not purchase them."

"Brazil's finance minister, Guido Mantega, has sparked speculation that his government will introduce further capital controls after declaring that foreign exchange markets have given the real an "exaggerated" valuation.

Brazil last month introduced a 2 per cent tax on foreign portfolio investments to stem the appreciation of the real - which has risen more than a third against the dollar this year - and reduce volatility in exchange rates.

Neither objective has been achieved. The real has experienced sharp swings in the past three weeks. Yesterday it had returned to the same level, R$1.70 to the dollar, as before the tax was introduced on October 20. But Mr Mantega's comments caused it to fall to almost R$1.72 by the afternoon."

"The Federal Reserve faces the biggest blows to its authority and independence in five decades under legislation championed by its lead overseer in the U.S. Senate.

The financial-regulation overhaul proposed yesterday by Senator Christopher Dodd would strip the Fed of its role as a bank supervisor and give Congress a greater voice in naming the officials who set interest rates. The measure opens the door to interference from politicians who might disagree with any move by the Fed to raise rates from record lows, former central bank officials said."

"The International Energy Agency has warned that the price of carbon credits will have to more than double from the levels they now trade at in Europe to make high-tech solutions to climate change economically attractive. In its annual World Energy Outlook report released on Tuesday, the rich countries' watchdog also warns that the world's use of fossil fuels – coal, oil and natural gas – will have to peak by the early 2020s."