Postcards
Power Point: Look out for Main Street
May 19, 2009: 7:49 PM ET"Any effort to restore confidence in our economy must start not on Wall Street but in Main Street, and that's what the credit card situation is all about."
-- Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic Majority Leader, speaking before a Senate vote on Tuesday that put new restrictions on the credit card industry. The bill is supposed to make card terms more explicit and be fairer to customers, providing safeguards against rate increases and late fees.
The vote did not cap interest rates, so the card-issuers can continue to raise them. This is exactly what banks including American Express (AXP), Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC) are doing as they cut risky cardholders from their rosters. The banks may also look at adding other fees back in and cutting rewards programs. So while the bill may spell relief for some consumers, those who regularly pay off their card balances may lose out. Three words: no more miles. --Jessica Shambora
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Power Point: Grow the tribe
"Being a Republican moderate sometimes feels like being a cast member of "Survivor" — you are presented with multiple challenges, and you often get the distinct feeling that you're no longer welcome in the tribe."
-- Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine in an Op-Ed piece in today's New York Times, referring to Senator Arlen Specter's flight to the Democratic party. Snowe's passionate argument is that her party could have avoided MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Apr 29, 2009 5:34 PM ETPosted in: arlen specter, democratic party, democrats, Olympia Snowe, politics, Postcards, Power Point, republican party, republicans, senate, Washington -
Power Point: Gotta spend
"You get the argument, 'Well, this is not a stimulus bill; this is a spending bill.' What do you think a stimulus is? That's the whole point."
--President Obama, in a feisty address Thursday night at a House Democratic Caucus retreat in Williamsburg, Va. Frustrated by the quibbles of Senate Republicans, Obama called the delay to pass the $800 billion stimulus bill "inexcusable."
Today's bleak jobs report--the worst since December 1974--added to MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Feb 6, 2009 6:27 PM ETPosted in: Christina Romer, Leadership by Geoff Colvin, politics, Postcards, Power Point, President Obama, senate, Washington -
Power Point: Don't dig a bigger hole
"We have a bunch of idiots on Wall Street that are kicking sand in the face of the American taxpayer."
-- Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, on the floor of the Senate Friday. McCaskill introduced legislation stipulating that no employee of any company that accepts federal bailout money be allowed to earn more than the President of the United States. Obama's annual salary is $400,000. The bill came a day after Obama MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Jan 30, 2009 7:28 PM ETPosted in: AT&T, Barack Obama, Boeing, caterpillar, economy, finance, Home Depot, job losses, Leadership by Geoff Colvin, Pfizer, politics, Postcards, Power Point, senate, Starbucks, stock market, Wall Street, Washington
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Fortune senior editor at large Pattie Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Marissa Mayer: Ready to Rumble at Yahoo," "Oprah's Next Act," "Can Meg Whitman Save California?" "The $100 Billion Woman" (Melinda Gates), and "Remodeling Martha" (Martha Stewart). She has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women in Business" package every year since its launch in 1998. Pattie is Executive Director of the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business and beyond. She oversees MPW programs that enable women leaders to extend their influence and empower the next generation—such as Fortune MPW Entrepreneurs and the Fortune-U.S. State Department Global Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership. Beyond her Fortune duties, she is also developing Live Content across Time Inc. Pattie grew up in Allentown, PA, graduated from the University of Virginia, and started at Fortune in 1984. Her blog, Postcards, is about how power players lead, manage others, and navigate their careers.
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