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From:
Date: Saturday, May 12, 2012
Subject: Saturday Download: What Happened This Week, 10 Must-Read Books This Summer, A 9-Year-Old Psychopath
To: Majo
| | By Chris Altchek (caltchek@policymic.com), 12-May-2012
1) In Europe, incumbents fared terribly in elections this week. François Hollande defeated Nicolas Sarkozy in France's presidential election by 51.6% to 48.4%. Hollande will soon find himself in a tough spot, having promised more spending while also vowing to hit France's deficit reduction goals. In Greece, fringe parties had their best showing ever, and are now preventing the government from enforcing austerity.
2) With the help of Saudi intelligence services, the CIA foiled a terrorist plan to detonate and "underpants bomb" on an airplane headed for the U.S. Although this is the second sophisticated bomb plot stopped by American intelligence, it shows that Al-Qaeda is still determined to pull off a dramatic attack.
3) In the U.S., primary elections on Tuesday yielded several interesting results. Richard Lugar, the senator from Indiana, lost a primary challenge to a Tea Party candidate after nearly four-decades in the Senate. In North Carolina, voters passed a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Obama responded the next day by publicly supporting gay marriage after years of equivocation.
4) Facebook is in final preparations to raise up to $11.8 billion in the biggest internet IPO of all time. Many twenty-something and thirty-something engineers and early employees will become instant multi-millionaires, marking the beginning of a new Silicon Valley elite. Eduardo Saverin, the co-founder of Facebook, renounced his U.S. citizenship to lower his tax bill.
5) J.P. Morgan Chase, America's largest bank, announced that it lost $2 billion in trades over the past 6 weeks and could face up to $1 billion more in losses all due to risky bets. The bank's CEO, Jamie Dimon, has been the most aggressive and outspoken critique of the Volcker rule and increased regulation of Wall Street. He argued that Wall Street could regulate itself – yet under his watch, JPM managed to shake the financial system with a few "sloppy" trades.
Top Stories – This Week in Pop Culture (Elena Sheppard) – 'Community' cancelled, Johnny Depp as a vampire, superstars in couture, Hollywood's version of Ronald Reagan. A lot happened this week! Here's a culture recap to get you through the weekend.
5 Reasons Why Lugar's Loss in Indiana Primary Doesn't Spell the End for Congress (Mark McKinnon) – Sen. Dick Lugar's loss on Tuesday to Richard Mourdock in the Indiana primary does not signify the death of problem-solving in Washington. Here are five reasons why.
10 New Must-Read Books for Your Summer Reading List (Sarah Swong) – These 10 new summer releases definitely deserve a spot on your Kindle.
Western Media Has Forgotten the Bright Side of Africa (Mutale Pamela Kapekele) – The western media are so unprofessional when reporting on Africa and they should be stopped.
Millennials and Banking Jobs: Despite Myths, Big Banks Are Still Hiring the Best Ivy League Grads (Sal Bommarito) – Big banks are scooping up some of the brightest Ivy Leaguers to fill their ranks. If you're interested, here are the qualifications they're looking for.
What we're reading – Seven days that shook Europe (FT); Medvedev the phony (FP); Can you call a 9-year-old a psychopath? (NYT); Investigation exposes barbaric conditions at for-profit youth prison in Mississippi (SPLC); Democracy is for amateurs: Why we need more citizen citizens (The Atlantic). | | | | |
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