The U.S. Chamber Of Commerce’s recent actions on two of the most important issues facing our country, healthcare reform and climate change, are a complete riddle to not only me, but to many of the chamber’s own members and former supporters.


 
 Measures that would significantly boost funding for the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as give shareholders a say on executive pay are included in draft financial overhaul legislation in the Senate, a person familiar with the matter said Monday. Sen.


 
 Banking group Barclays PLC on Tuesday reported strong earnings in its investment banking unit and announced the restart of dividend payments, but also warned that the bad debts weighing on its profits have not yet peaked. Barclays, Britain’s biggest bank and one of the few to rebuff a taxpayer-funded bailout, said net profit fell 29 percent in the first nine months of the year to 2.73 billion pounds ($4.55 billion), down from 3.83 billion pounds a year ago. The decline was largely due to a 65 percent surge in impairment charges — write-offs on the value of assets — to 6.21 billion pounds as economies remained fragile and unemployment rose.

(Reuterz: Rome) L’Osservatore Romano is reporting that Goldman Sachs is indeed Doing God’s work, and His Former Holiness Joseph Ratzinger has confirmed the unsolicited hostile takeover. Writing under his pen name Benedict XVI, Ratzinger verified that total control of the popular religion has been transferred to Goldman Sachs and His New Holiness Lloyd Blankfein. Ratzinger added, since they now own the place, they should be doing the work.

NEW YORK — Of all the items set to go on the auction block this week at a midtown Manhattan hotel, there’s one that would take some mettle to wear in public: A satin New York Mets baseball jacket emblazoned with the name “Madoff.” The jacket – valued at between $500 and $700 – is among hundreds of pieces of jewelry, clothing and other personal effects once owned by disgraced financier and vanquished Mets fan Bernard Madoff and his wife, Ruth. Madoff, 71, was sentenced in June to 150 years in prison for orchestrating a massive Ponzi scheme that spanned decades.

RICHMOND, Va. — Reynolds American Inc., maker of Camel cigarettes and Grizzly smokeless tobacco, is in talks to buy a Swedish company that helps people stop smoking, a tobacco expert who said he was briefed by people close to the talks told The Associated Press Monday.