Clem’s Chronicles: Pirate Captain returns/Banks/Greenhouse Gases/StemCells/Obama & Cuba

Clem Lane here. Hope you all have a nice fun-filled weekend. Here’s what’s happening this evening….

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS RETURNS-“I’m not the hero. The military is.” So said Captain Richard Phillips when he arrived back in Vermont to a hero’s welcome and reunion with his family, friends and “fellow Vermonters”. Plenty of folks would beg to differ with Captain Phillips’ statement (although if I’m handling PR for the military I’ve already created a 30 second ad with Phillips’ soundbite), starting with the residents of his hometown. John Berman, reporting from Vermont for WORLD NEWS, noted that “Phillips headed to his home in Underhill, population 3000, a tiny town with a huge heart, Banners, ribbons and signs there to meet him.” His friends don’t fear Phillips evolving into a media monster-friend Tim Smith was quoted in Berman’s piece saying “he’ll be the same Richard as he was when he left. And he’ll have great stories, Richard can tell great stories.”

BANKS REBOUNDING?-Remember all those sickly financial institutions we threw billions at to ensure their survival? Well don’t look now but they might be standing on their own two feet quicker than expected. Case in point-Citigroup. David Muir, filing for WORLD NEWS, noted that “it was one of the most battered banks of all. So today when Citigroup announced a first-quarter profit of more than a billion, many began asking: is there light at the end of the banking tunnel?” Maybe. Citigroup is not the only success story reported this week. JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs also announced stellar profits. A natural question then from taxpayers courtesy Mr. Muir: “When do we get our taxpayer bailout money back?” Not so fast-when Muir pulls back the curtain after talking to analysts, the great and powerful Oz…I mean banking system…may not be so solid after all. Muir again: “The first way you can tell…is the banks haven’t increased their lending, the whole point of the massive bailout.” There’s more-Muir: “These banks have taken advantage of changes in accounting rules, drawn up in this economy which now allow Citigroup and other banks to subtract less of those toxic assets and losses in computing those profits. If they tally that in, plus what Citibank owes all of its investors in dividends, they actually posted a loss.” (sound of balloon deflating) So are we close? Stephen Leeb, chief investment officer of Leeb Capital Management is quoted in Muir’s piece saying “The light at the end of the tunnel comes when we actually see lending picking up. Banks are so valuable because they lend money to consumers, lend money to businesses and we have seen none of that.”

GREENHOUSE GASES-Voters who swept Barack Obama into the White House were promised change and darn if the Obama Administration isn’t following through. The latest example? Greenhouse gases. David Kerley noted in his WORLD NEWS piece that today “the epa determined that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases endanger Americans’ health by contributing to climate change. This decision gives President Obama the power under the 40 year old Clean Air Act to order reductions in emissions in cars immediately and possibly power plants, factories and office buildings.” Cue business trade group representatives’ heads exploding-okay not really but they don’t dig it. Bill Kovacs from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was quoted in Kerley’s piece saying that today’s move “literally puts the EPA in charge of the entire economy” and they got some figures to show the downside. Kerley: “Business groups claim nearly 2 million jobs will be lost with an overall cost to the economy of $1 and a half trillion in just the next decade.” Yikes-sounds pretty dire to me from a business perspective. But it seems to not be enough to dissuade the Administration.  Kerley notes that “President Obama wants to go even further, pressuring Congress to pass broad energy and climate legislation.” Choices abound but as Kerley said in his close “what’s clear tonight…America is headed down a much different path on climate change.

CARIBBEAN SUMMIT:  Leaders of 34 countries in the western hemisphere are gathered in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad tonight for the Summit of the Americas.  President Obama is there and just a couple of hours ago, he ran into Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, who only last month referred to him as an “ignoramus” for saying the socialist leader exported terrorism and obstructed progress in Latin America. But tonight a photo released by the Venezuelan government shows the two presidents all smiles and shaking hands.  Chavez is said to have told Obama “I want to be your friend.”   Chavez, of course, is a strong supporter of Cuba.  But President Obama won’t have to worry about running into Cuban leader Raul Castro in Trinidad because he wasn’t invited.  Nevertheless, Cuba has already been a hot topic. As Jake Tapper tells us, President Obama has been talking about steps Cuba might take to “move U.S.- Cuban relations in a new direction:” “Those step include the Cuban government freeing political prisoners, allowing freedom of speech, religion, and travel. Cuban President Raul Castro responded that Cuba is willing to talk about all of those issues. "We could be talking about many other things," Castro said, "We could be wrong, we admit it. We’re human beings."”  Still, many Cuban experts are advising not to get your hopes up. In other words, don’t expect any dramatic breakthroughs anytime soon. (thanks to Ed Bailey for this entry)

STEMCELL GUIDELINES-From AP: “Ultimately, the NIH proposed limiting new grants to research that uses stem cells originally derived from fertility-clinic leftovers, the extra embryos that couples wind up not needing and thus often are thrown out. That’s in line with legislation passed by the last Congress but never signed by then-President George W. Bush.  The guidelines also demand that the woman or couple who donate the original embryo give proper informed consent. There are other options for such donors, such as donating the embryo to another infertile woman, and all must be explained. The donation must be voluntary, without pressure from scientists. And the guidelines also clearly forbid some types of research using human embryonic stem cells – such as mixing them with embryos from monkeys and other primates. The NIH will accept public comments on the guidelines for a month and assess those comments before issuing final rules by early July.”

UNEMPLOYMENT BY STATE-From Dan Arnall: “The government reported this morning that almost every state in the nation (46 of them) saw an increase in their unemployment rate during March. According to the latest Federal survey of state unemployment, the state with the highest unemployment is Michigan (12.6%). Oregon saw the biggest month-over-month change in unemployment (+1.4%).  19 states have unemployment rates higher than the national average rate. 

OTHER STUFF-
–HELIO CASTRONEVES– Brazilian race car driver and "Dancing With The Stars" champ Castroneves was acquitted today of most charges that he worked with his sister and lawyer to evade more than $2.3 million in U.S. income taxes. A federal jury acquitted Castroneves on six counts of tax evasion but was hung on one count of conspiracy. Castroneves is wasting no time getting back to work-he leaves for Los Angeles this evening and will race in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach for Team Penske.
–BANK FAILURE– Regulators on Friday shut down American Sterling Bank in Missouri, marking the 24th failure this year of a federally insured bank. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of the bank, based in Sugar Creek, Mo. It had $181 million in assets and $171.9 million in deposits as of March 20. Metcalf Bank, based in Lee’s Summit, Mo., was chosen to assume American Sterling’s deposits and buy about $173.6 million of its assets. The FDIC will retain the rest of the assets to sell later.
–HOLLYWOOD LABOR DEAL—Well knock me over with a feather. The Screen Actors Guild and the Hollywood studios report they have reached a tentative deal on movie and prime-time TV show productions. The previous contract had expired last June. Today’s announcement came one day before the Guild’s board was scheduled to meet and a year after the two sides began talks. The Guild says its leaders will recommend approval by the board and ratification by its members. Both sides say details will not be disclosed before the Guild’s board reviews it over the weekend.