MasterCard International Inc. spent $1.8 million in 2007 to lobby on Internet-related issues and on fees merchants pay when customers use credit cards.

Congress is weighing tighter regulations on the credit card industry. The industry came under fire in December, when a Senate subcommitee issued a report denouncing practices that include raising interest rates for customers whose credit ratings decline, even if they make their card payments on time.

Enid’s Carver Educational Center is praised by state

Youth, the saying goes, is wasted on the young. The same can be true of education.Sometimes young people don't take advantage of their educational opportunities and it isn't until they reach adulthood they realize the error of their ways.For these people, and for any adults seeking academic improvement, the Carver Education Center is a valuable asset.Recently the Carver center received visits from four representatives of Oklahoma State Department of Education's Lifelong Learning Section. They conducted interviews, observed classes and reviewed materials.The panel's conclusion? Carver Educational Center is doing a good job.Thumbs up to Carver Education Center and its staff.THUMBS UPEnid Community Foundation recently hit a milestone, hitting $11.4 million in assets.This is quite a jump from the original $1.8 million challenge grant from Sisters of Mercy in July 2000.

How the West has won

Cheers.) The fact is they are unmitigated shite, so much so that I find them offensive. This is what happens when you form a band after only having watched TOTP2 as your sole musical inspiration and input: Three of your band members wear porkpie hats and look like extras from Only Fools and Horses, complete with crap polo shirts. The fourth member (lead guitar) decides he wants to be in the Small Faces and grows an outlandishly terrible mop-like mullet and then hangs his guitar far enough up his chest in the hope of hiding his gut, while in reality meaning his guitar just looks ridiculously high. He then prances around with one foot on the tiny monitor and plays the most obvious guitar solos known to man. Someone describes them as a like "the Libertine's arsehole" and this is probably a fair description.

The Unspeakable R Word

Why are there imbalances in the global economy? Until recently, conventional economic wisdom has held that the U.S. has a huge trade deficit, a gaping current account deficit, and large federal budget deficits because Americans consume too much and save very little. Newly emerging conventional wisdom takes the opposite view. The problem in today's global economy is that the rest of the world, in particular people in Asia, consume too little and save way too much.

Signs of this meme can be seen all over. The lead article in today's Wall Street Journal speaks of a global housing boom spurred by a "saving glut." An op-ed in today's Financial Times by Ricardo Hausmann of Harvard notes that "excessive savings are at the root of the imbalance in China." Elsewhere, the FT applauds a tentative sign that the Japanese—"who control the world's largest pool of savings," some $1.28 trillion—are showing signs of spending and investing more.

Crisis: America's missing cukes!

Why are these ads significant? 1) They seem to me to be surprisingly effective as a way of spreading dirt. 2) They seem to represent a surprisingly large hole in the campaign finance laws. After all, they are advertisements for a publication. They aren't campaign expenditures. They're simply telling potential customers about an article, which just happens to be an article spreading scandal about the Clintons. In the same way, ads for some Michael Moore films just happen to undermine George Bush. But, unlike Michael Moore films, the enterprise these Google ads are promoting is itself typically exempted from the campaign finance regime under the so-called "media exemption." So why doesn't some unabashedly non-neutral rich person buy up a lot of media properties--and then start spending tens of millions on ads promoting "scoops" that just happen to damage candidates the rich person opposes? Ron Burkle may be on to something.

LaSalle bonuses may lead to exits

The acquisition closed more than four months ago, but another milestone in Bank of America Corp.'s integration of LaSalle Bank is fast approaching.

Year-end guaranteed bonuses are due for LaSalle workers at the end of February, a source familiar with the compensation structure said. LaSalle had been known for paying good, but not great, salaries, but it was more generous with bonuses.

But the uncertainty surrounding the LaSalle bidding war, which involved not just Charlotte-based Bank of America but also Charter One parent Royal Bank of Scotland, made it difficult for LaSalle employees to bring in new business last year.

Meet Anastasius the Librarian

Two weeks ago, I identified the first pope not to become a saint in either the Western or the Eastern Church. This was Anastasius II, who reigned for two brief years, 496-498. Anastasius was overwhelmed by heresies and growing tensions between church leaders in Rome and Constantinople.