The John Batchelor Show 02-01-2009

First up, Batchelor and Constable note that consumers are hoarding cash...

It's Sunday night, and that means it's time for John Batchelor!





Here is his website.

The show starts at 7pm Eastern, and continues for six hours of the best radio you will find anywhere, as only John Batchelor can deliver it with his stable of experts...

And here is where you can listen to the show live online:

New York, WABC-AM 770 7-10PM ET;
Washington DC, WMAL-AM 630 7-9PM ET;
San Francisco, KSFO-AM 560;
Los Angeles,KFI-AM 640;

And here is where you can find the podcasts of the show: the first three hours, and the last three hours.

Schedule for Tonight: (all six hours are on the same link now)

The first two hours are below to whet your appetite:

"Continuing Disaster" Special  

705P ET:   Albert Gonzales, frmr Attorney General and White House Counsel, with Simon Constable, Dow Jones Newswire, re the executive orders that closed Gitmo in a year, review the 345 detainees, suspend Military Commissions Act 2006.   Guantanamo Judge Denies Obama's Request for Delay 

  The former commander of the USS Cole, the American war ship that was struck by a suicide boat in Yemeni waters more than eight years ago, on Thursday slammed President Barack Obama's orders to close the Guantanamo detention center and reassess the prisoners being held there.

720P:  Larry Kudlow, CNBC, re the stimulus bill in the House that passed 244-188, with 0 Republican votes and 11 Blue Dogs opposed, re the GDP pluge of 3.8%, re the bad bank proposal by Treasury and the possibility of a $2 trillion cost to the Treasury.  Shelve This Stimulus Plan - Larry Kudlow, RealClearPolitics  What Red Ink? Wall Street Paid Hefty Bonuses - New York Times

735P: Professional Roundtable  Mona Charen, NRO, John Fund, Wall Street Journal, Thaddeus McCotter, 11th Michigan (R), re the stimulus package maneuvering in the House, the meeting with the POTUS on Tues 27, the vote on Wed 28, re what does the stimulus package do for the automobiles, for pharmaceuticals?  Republicans Are Settled into Bunker Mentality - Eleanor Clift, Newsweek  The Proposed Stimulus is a Clunker - Matthew Continetti, Weekly Standard  GOP Finally United Against Gov't Spending - Philip Klein, Am. Spectator

750P:  Continued re the union favoring executive orders, re the Coleman vs Franken bout comes to town through the winter.  Dems Set Sights on GOP Senators Who Oppose Plan - New York Times  What Red Ink? Wall Street Paid Hefty Bonuses - New York Times

805P: John Miller, Wall Street Journal, New Generation of Ocean Behemoths  Container shippers are unleashing a wave of titanic vessels on the oceans during the biggest dip in global trade since World War II.  No Protectionism: Strip 'Buy American' Rules - San Diego Union-Tribune

820P:  Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents Major Jewish Organizations, re Voices From the Gaza Rubble - Tim McGirk & Jebel al-Kashif, Time  Palestinian Myth Machine - Mona Charen, National Review, re the public spat between Shimon Peres and Tayip Erdigan.  Iranian Revolution at 30

835: Financial Roundtable, with Jim McTague, Barron's John Tamny, RealClearMarkets.com, Simon Constable, Dow Jones,  Aaron Task, Yahoo Finance, With Stimulus, Is It 'Beggar Thy Children'? - Rob Arnott, RealClearMarkets  Why the Bank Bailouts Are Doomed - Jon Markman, MSN Money  Stocks Rise on Obama Plan for Bad Bank Assets

"...Increasing the supply of credit might help pump up spending, too. University of Texas Professor Robert Auerbach, an economist who studied under the late Milton Friedman, thinks he has the makings of a malpractice suit against Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, as the Fed is holding a record number of reserves: $901 billion in January as opposed to $44 billion in September, when the Fed began paying interest on money commercial banks parked at the central bank. The banks prefer the sure rate of return they get by sitting in cash, not making loans. Fed, stop paying, he says."

850P: Continued, re the bank bailout may be in trouble, re Nouriel Roubini says that it will get much worse, While the U.S. government is resisting nationalizing its biggest banks, Roubini says it will have no choice because they are now "effectively insolvent." And the outcome may be even worse than even he anticipates if governments fail to take aggressive steps to recapitalize banks and revive their economies, he says: "The risk of a near-depression shouldn't be underestimated." Crisis Has Changed Conservative Constraints - David Malpass, Forbes  

 Obama's 'Buy America' policy is an irresponsible, innumerate and pernicious bit of economic folly 

 More...