Democrats and Republicans ripped into Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner during a Congressional hearing Thursday , as Geithner defended an administration plan to address “too big to fail” financial firms. Legislators argued that the plan institutionalized “too big to fail” by requiring perpetual government assistance — bailouts — for failed firms deemed to be systemically important; that the plan’s fund — to be used in the event of a firm’s failure — should be prepaid by these firms, as opposed to being paid after the fact by the survivors; and that the proposal specified that a list of designated firms would be kept secret, which was neither realistic nor helpful. Federal bank regulators echoed that last point

It’s a chilly fall night at Hollywood’s Roosevelt hotel as the 140 conference parties (three total!) go full swing poolside under the stars. Guests mingle and chit-chat as out of town revelers see familiar faces and catch up.

Bloomberg : In Washington and on Main Street, politicians and voters are railing against Wall Street’s multi- million-dollar pay packages. In the financial world, most executives expect their bonuses to match or exceed last year’s, with 1 in 10 predicting their best-ever payout. Read the whole story: Bloomberg

The government is exploring expansive controls over “too big to fail” financial institutions. According to The New York Times , the House Financial Services Committee may introduce legislation this week.

Every action taken by federal regulators against large, systemically-important financial firms — those commonly referred to as “too big to fail” — will be made public, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank told the Huffington Post. This is a sharp break from current practice. Currently, federal banking regulators can secretly get banks to modify their behavior and practices

I read today that McDonald’s has pulled out of Iceland. The decision to withdraw is a combination of rising costs due to the weak Kronar against the German Mark (all products for McDonad’s in Iceland come from Germany) and the inability to hike prices a further 20% to recoup losses. To raise prices would have made the Big Mac in Iceland the most expensive in the world.

According to “The Shriver Report: A Women’s Nation Changes Everything” we women have finally made it. Although the report focuses mainly on women with families, it tells us that women are now 50 percent of the paid workforce.