Latest Good Reads

McCain laboring to hit right note on the economy.

Dow plunges over 300 points.

Candidates talk tough on economy as financial fears grow.

Barclays to acquire Lehman assets.

"Safe" tax planning for the affluent.

IRS oversight board meeting in Washington, D.C.

When is a tax not a tax?

Walking the wire: work/life balance and the single woman.

Bush Acknowledges Financial Pain

President Bush spoke at the White House Rose Garden this morning acknowledging that the country is facing financial pain. However, he was reluctant to mention Dow’s massive plunge, and did not provide many details on the administration’s plan to ease the countries pain.

"I know Americans are concerned about the adjustments that are taking place in our financial markets," noted President Bush. "We are working to reduce disruptions and minimize the impact on the [broader economy]. In the short run, adjustments in the financial markets can be painful, for people worried about their investments, and for employees of the firms."

Below is a list of recent economic developments from CNN.com.

Lehman: Lehman Brothers (LEH, Fortune 500) filed for the biggest bankruptcy in history after it failed to find a buyer, triggering a 95% stock plunge to 19 cents a share.

Merrill: Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) said it would buy Merrill Lynch (MER, Fortune 500) for $50 billion in stock, or $29. Merrill's stock surged 24% on the news to $21.20 a share, while Bank of America plunged 15% to $28.59 a share.

AIG: The stock plunged 44% to $6.89 a share for AIG (AIG, Fortune 500), after the insurance giant said it was getting ready to announce a restructuring.

Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co., described this as the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s and the railroad bankruptcies of the 1800s.

"We've never witnessed this before," said Hogan earlier in the morning, before Bush's speech. "There's no road map for this.”

Details of Lehman Brothers's Employees Political Donations

With the announcement that Lehman Brothers would file for the biggest bankruptcy in history they have been all over the new headlines. One of the more interesting stories that I came across takes a look at the political support, and donations, of the company’s employees. Below is a snippet of the article, but you can read the full text at Brothers Grim: Is Lehman Next?

Since 1989, Lehman Brothers's employees and political action committee have given $9.2 million to federal candidates, parties and political action committees, with 54 percent of that going to Democrats. In the current Congress, 271 lawmakers have collected nearly $3 million since 1989, with 72 percent going to Democrats. Democratic presidential candidates and senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama top the list of all-time recipients for the company, collecting $410,000 and $395,600 respectively. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., a member of both the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, hauled in $181,450, while Sen. Chris Dodd, chair of the Senate banking committee, has collected $165,800. The top recipient of PAC money from Lehman Brothers has been Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.), a member of the House Financial Services Committee, which has jurisdiction over banking and the securities industry. Castle has collected $38,500 from Lehman's PAC since 1993.

This election cycle, Lehman employees have given about $1.3 million to presidential candidates. Only fellow financial giants Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley have given more to the presidential hopefuls this election cycle. Lehman employees have made their firm one of the top contributors to both Obama ($370,500) and John McCain ($117,500) this election cycle. The company is also on track to spend more than $800,000 on federal lobbying this year.