SpiderFarmer

Washington Post reports that the American International Group, which has received more than $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, plans to pay about $165 million in bonuses by Sunday to executives in the same business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse last year. The payments to A.I.G.’s financial products unit are in addition to $121 million in previously scheduled bonuses.

A list of retailers that are shuttering some, or all, of their doors:

• Circuit City

• Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide are to be shuttered

• Lane Bryant,, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine’s to close 150 store nationwide

• Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January

• Cache will close all stores

• Talbots closing down all stores

• J. Jill closing all stores

• GAP closing 85 stores

• Footlocker closing 140 stores more to close after January

• Wickes Furniture closing down

• Levitz closing down remaining stores

• Bombay closing remaining stores

• Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January.

• Whitehall closing all stores

• Piercing Pagoda closing all stores

• Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.

• Home Depot closing 15 stores

• Macys to close 9 stores after January

• Linens and Things closing all stores

• Movie Galley Closing all stores

• Pacific Sunware closing stores

• Pep Boys Closing 33 stores

• Sprint/ Nextel closing 133 stores

• JC Penney closing a number of stores after January

• Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.

• Wilson Leather closing down all stores

• Sharper Image closing down all stores

• K B Toys closing 356 stores

• Loews to close down some stores

• Dillard’s to close some stores.

This is just heartbreaking. From kcet.org

Foreclosure Alley

For the past few years, the Inland Empire in Riverside County has been one of the fastest growing counties in the state – home to a major housing boom. But now the Inland Empire is pretty much the poster child for the foreclosure crisis. SoCal Connected tracked down some surreal sights associated with the crisis, including a guy who started a business turning abandoned, dead lawns green – with spray-paint.