Top of the mornin’ to ya. In honor of St. Patty’s Day, I think we should start with Marketplace’s own resident Irishman and his latest Whiteboard Video:
Explaining collateralized loan obligations (Paddy Hirsch)
CLOs from Marketplace on Vimeo.
Public option supporters seek to resurrect it (NPR)
Even some senators who support the public option oppose its revival.
“They’re on the mark in saying that I’m for it, but they miss the larger point, which is that it would take down the passage of health care,” said Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), one of the senators the TV ad says is a potential yes vote.
The Rum War between two US territories (NPR)
Diageo is relocating production of Captain Morgan — one of its most successful brands — from Puerto Rico to the Virgin Islands. In exchange, the Virgin Islands is giving Diageo an estimated $2.7 billion in various incentives over the next 30 years.
Rafael Fantauzzi, president of the National Puerto Rican Coalition, a lobbying group, says that’s twice what it will actually cost Diageo to produce rum at the new facility. “Which is outrageous,” Fantauzzi says. “And it’s extremely irresponsible of even the U.S. Virgin Islands to give so much money away to a foreign-owned company, instead of using it for their own vulnerable people.”
Thieves pull off daring crime for pills (Planet Money)
Here’s a reminder of just how vast the global black market for pharmaceuticals is: In a weekend raid, thieves stole $75 million worth of antidepressants, antipsychotics and other drugs from a Connecticut warehouse.
The perps scaled a brick wall, cut a hole in the ceiling and rappelled down, the AP reports. They disabled an alarm then spent at least an hour loading pallets of drugs into a vehicle at a loading dock.
A hard look at payday lenders (PBS NewsHour) First of two parts by Ray Suarez:
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