“Personal Branding” is a term that gets bandied about at every cocktail party despite not having any real discernible meaning. We know the purpose of branding products: to sell them to their market. What exactly does it mean to have a personal brand, though?

WASHINGTON — Lender CIT Group has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, in an effort to restructure its debt while trying to keep loans flowing to the thousands of mid-sized and small businesses. CIT’s move will wipe out current holders of its common and preferred stock, likely meaning the U.S. government and taxpayers will lose the $2.3 billion sunk into CIT last year to prop up the ailing company

Around the Web: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (Home Page) Bank of America Corporation News – The New York Times UBS AG – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia UBS: Summary for UBS AG (NEW)- Yahoo! Finance Bank of America – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Dem bill urges new powers over financial firms – Yahoo! News Top employees leave financial firms ahead of pay cuts …

Washington Post : In 2005, Robin Beale was convicted in federal court for taking part in a local mortgage fraud scheme that bilked lenders out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. One year later, she landed a million-dollar consulting contract — from the District’s AIDS program.

The Government Accountability Office likes to point its finger at Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands for sheltering tax cheats. But according to the U.K.-based Tax Justice Network , the United States is the biggest tax shelter of ‘em all, thanks to the great state of Delaware. Delaware, says the Tax Justice Network, is “the most secretive financial jurisdiction in the world.” That’s based on an analysis of 60 financial jurisdictions according to level of secrecy and cooperation with foreign tax authorities

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner acknowledges the federal budget deficit is too high, but that the priorities now are economic growth and job creation. Asked repeatedly on NBC’s “Meet the Press” whether this means taxes will rise, Geithner avoided giving specifics. He did say President Barack Obama is committed to dealing with deficit in a way that will not add to the tax burden of people making less than $250,000 a year.

New York Times : OVER the past 80 years, the United States government has engineered not one, not two, not three, but at least four rescues of the institution now known as Citigroup. In previous instances, the bank came back from the crisis and prospered. Will Citigroup rise again from its recent near-death experience