MID-DAY UPDATE: The impact of Byrd’s death and what to take away from the G-20
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The Mid-Day Update is a five-day-a-week podcast from the Marketplace Morning Report co-hosted by Bill Radke and Steve Chiotakis that wraps up the morning news in a fun little package. Listen here every day at 10 a.m. PT or download it to your iPod by subscribing to the Morning Report Podcast:
From the Marketplace world headquarters in Los Angeles, this is Bill Radke. Senator Robert Byrd, the longest-serving member of Congress in history, passed away at the age of 92. His death raised questions about whether the financial regulatory overhaul bill will pass.
Over the weekend at the G-20 summit, leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations agreed to cut their deficits in half by 2013. The summit was dominated by a debate over how quickly to shift from economic stimulus to deficit reduction. resident Obama said he plans to get tough on cutting the nation’s debt. But, there’s plenty of wiggle room for nations that feel deficit cutting might stunt growth.
And speaking of deficit reduction… Demand is growing for high-speed video and data transmission. The White House says it will nearly double the amount of available wireless space over the next decade and put part of that the money toward … deficit reduction.
Elena Kagan’s Senate confirmation hearings‎ begin today. Republicans are expected to question the Supreme Court nominee’s lack of judicial experience.
The government said this morning that consumer spending was up a little last month. Even though most of that spending was on utilities. The government reports spending on goods was actually down for the month. It used to be the consumer who led us out of slowdowns, but do consumers have that much juice anymore?
President Obama signed a memorandum to commit the federal government to a sustained effort to nearly double the amount of available wireless spectrum.
In movie news, Disney and Pixar continue their winning streak. “Toy Story 3” was number one at the box office again this weekend, followed by Adam Sandler’s new movie “Grown Ups.” Tom Cruise’s thriller “Knight and Day” fizzled. It was the worst result for a Cruise action flick in 20 years. Hollywood watchers are wondering whether he’s turned off audiences permanently with his erratic behavior.
Looks like tropical storm Alex will just miss the oil spill.
And tomorrow electric carmaker Tesla will go public.
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