AIG’s Tarnished Brand, The White House Vegetable Garden and Global Warming Negotiations
The damage to AIG’s corporate brand may hinder its ability to repay bailout loans from taxpayers.
First Lady Michelle Obama announces the creation of a vegetable garden on the south lawn of the White House.
President Obama selects a new State Department negotiator to represent the U.S. at United Nations climate change conferences.
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1. BUSINESS
The damage to AIG’s corporate brand may hinder its ability to repay bailout loans from taxpayers.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer on the problems facing AIG’s insurance subsidiaries:
“AIG subsidiaries are likely in worse shape than appeared at first blush. On the surface, this looks a lot like Enron. A lot of the underlying business may have had serious problems…Congress needs to be ready to deal with this problem.”
2. FOOD
First Lady Michelle Obama announces the creation of a vegetable garden on the south lawn of the White House.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Gregory Conko on the unromantic reality of growing one’s own food:
“To a pre-teen and then teenage kid, that sort of work [in the backyard garden] seemed to be the worst possible way to spend a spring weekend or summer afternoon. But, my family were pikers compared to those of many of the kids I went to school with [in rural Pennsylvania]. People who actually farm for a living have it far, far worse — up before dawn to milk the cows, then off to school, and immediately back home to help with another milking. Indeed, there’s very little that’s romantic about keeping a big backyard garden, and less still about the actual practice of producing meaningful amounts of food. But, of course, last Thursday’s photo op may be the last time any member of the First Family has to actually do it.”
3. ENVIRONMENT
President Obama selects a new State Department negotiator to represent the U.S. at United Nations climate change conferences.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Analyst Steven Milloy on what this means for U.S. foreign policy:
“President Obama has selected former World Resources Institute climate activist Jonathan Pershing to surrender our standard of living, national dignity and sovereignty at the upcoming United Nations climate treaty meeting in Copenhagen in December…Was Al Gore too busy to sell out America in Copenhagen?”
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