President Barack Obama’s $825 billion stimulus plan heads to the floor of the House of Representatives this week, with House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, saying many in his party will vote against the package unless significant changes are made.

“Right now, given the concerns that we have over the size of this package and all of the spending in this package, we don’t think it’s going to work,” Rep. Boehner said yesterday (Sunday) on NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press.” “And so if it’s the plan that I see today, put me down in the ‘No’ column.”

The plan – detailed in a Money Morning report last week – could potentially pass the Democrat-dominated House without Republican support, The New York Times reported. But the stimulus plan will face major opposition when it comes before the U.S. Senate, U.S. Sen. John …

Thursday January 22, 2009
Navivest

Citi (NYSE:C)announced yesterday, that its Lead Director and Chair of the Board’s Nomination and Governance Committee, Richard D. Parsons, will succeed Sir Win Bischoff as Chairman of the Board of Directors, effective February 23. Sir Win will also retire from Citi later this year.

According the press release, Mr. Parsons, 60, is an experienced and accomplished corporate leader. Previously, Parsons served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dime Bancorp, Inc., where he successfully worked with government regulators to enable the bank to continue as a private sector enterprise.

He has also previously served in the positions of President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman at Time Warner, where he led the company’s turnaround after its merger with America Online in 2000. Prior to that, Mr. Parsons was managing partner of the New York law firm Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler, and held various positions

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by Jeannette Di Louie, Assistant Editor, Mt. Vernon Research

Editor’s Note: This morning’s IU Blackboard touched on the fate of Citigroup (NYSE: C) and it’s two-face strategy. Our colleagues over at Mt. Vernon Research have a little more insight on the company and its two-fold prospects.

Citigroup Plays Good Bank Bad Bank

It’s good news and bad news for Citigroup (NYSE: C) today. Like most financials, the company took more than a few hard knocks back in 2008, and so far 2009 isn’t looking much better. Everybody knew that Citigroup would post a loss for last quarter, but nobody expected it to be as high as it is at $8.29 billion.

But that bad news isn’t holding its recovery team back, who appear to be thinking fast on their feet. After reviewing the books and their options, the company has decided to

If the new president looked a little, well, burdened on election night, chances are he’s aging a couple of years in the six-hour span between the release of unemployment figures this morning and his first news conference as president-elect this afternoon.

6.5% unemployment in October — worst since early Clintontime.  Worse still were the revisions of the August and September numbers.  And as Karl Denninger noticed, the number of unemployed plus the number of people working part-time who’d like to work full-time now tops 11%.  (And who knows what the real figure would turn out to be once John Williams applies Carter-era standards to the numbers.)

As I write, the president-elect is meeting with his “Transition Economic Advisory Board,” his temporary brain trust as it were.  The names on the panel are, well, interesting.  Some of the faces from I.O.U.S.A. are there.  But one has to wonder if