Nevada State Bank of Las Vegas will take over the insured deposits of Silver State -- which had $2 billion in assets and $1.7 billion in deposits at the end of June. AP reports that "[Silver State's] branches will reopen Monday as offices of Nevada State Bank in Nevada and National Bank of Arizona in Arizona."

John McCain's son, Andrew, who is also CFO of his mom's beer distributorship, "sat on the boards of Silver State Bank and of its parent, Silver State Bancorp, starting in February but resigned in July citing 'personal reasons.' Andrew McCain also was a member of the bank's audit committee, responsible for oversight of the company's accounting," according to AP.

Continue reading Bank Failure Count: 2008's 11th bank fails, McCain's son was director

Bank Failure Count: 2008's 11th bank fails, McCain's son was director originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 06 Sep 2008 10:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Fresh from several disappointing early voting contests, Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani announced a plan to cut corporate business taxes from 35% to 25% as a way of stimulating the economy. It is difficult to know whether this is a serious policy issue for Giuliani or merely an attempt to get some attention to help his presidential campaign. But current Republican front runner Senator John McCain has also jumped on board Giuliani's proposal, so perhaps the issue will gain brief traction as the nomination circus continues.

Corporate tax cuts are not an automatic economic booster. In theory, reducing corporate tax rates leads to more productive corporate activity, which leads to higher profits. This in turn should lead to higher profits resulting, down the road, in higher tax revenues. Lower taxes on the front end in order to get back higher tax revenues in the longer term. Except that often, the longer term necessitates its own tax manipulations.

Reducing corporate taxes may seem like a good idea to a candidate looking for industry support. But at a time when some American companies are notching record profits and American consumers are being slammed with rising energy and fuel prices, tax breaks for corporations that are outsourcing or shedding jobs right and left will not earn a candidate many votes. Ultimately, it's voters who pull the lever.

John McCain jumps on board Giuliani's tax cut proposal originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 22 Jan 2008 15:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Iowa to Wall Street: Drop dead originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Facebook, ABC Networks, team up for political education originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's been three weeks since our Money Face-Off feature ran here at BloggingStocks and on AOL, offering you the opportunity to share who you though had the financial edge in a series of twenty head-to-head match-ups. So I thought I'd take another look and see how things have worked out.

It's hard to pick just one big winner. In terms of the largest lead over a rival, Ivanka Trump easily beats Paris Hilton with 89% of the vote. Others holding big leads over their opponents include Tiger Woods, Warren Buffett, Steven Spielberg, and Rupert Murdoch.

In terms of receiving the most votes, the clear leader is the Oprah Winfrey vs. Martha Stewart match-up, with just short of 150,000 votes. Other big vote getters were Tiger Woods vs. David Beckham, Rudy Giuliani vs. Michael Bloomberg, and Bill Gates vs. Steve Jobs. In terms of the liveliest discussions in the comments, the winners are Oprah Winfrey vs. Martha Stewart, Erin Burnett vs. Maria Bartiromo, and Bono vs. Angelina Jolie. Also check out the comments for the J.K. Rowling vs. J.R.R Tolkien, Tiger Woods vs. David Beckham, and Ivanka Trump vs. Paris Hilton posts.

As for the face-off posts here that got the most attention, the clear winner is Erin Burnett vs. Maria Bartiromo, with more than 13,000 hits. Lindsay Lohan vs. Britney Spears and Oprah Winfrey vs. Martha Stewart also attracted lots of readers.

Results for all the face-offs follow below, but keep in mind that the voting is still open. It's not too late to add your vote or let us know what you think.

Continue reading Money Face-Off Big Winners: Oprah, Tiger Woods, Ivanka Trump, Erin Burnett

Money Face-Off Big Winners: Oprah, Tiger Woods, Ivanka Trump, Erin Burnett originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 06 Oct 2007 12:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Hillary Clinton (9.1 million) defeats Barack Obama (2.62 million)
• Fred Thompson (10.6 million) defeats Rudy Giuliani (2.05 million) - to be fair, this may be pulling for more than one "Fred Thompson."
• Ben Bernanke (2.62 million) defeats Alan Greenspan (1.96 million)!
• Steve Jobs (88.5 million) defeats Bill Gates (44.6 million)
• Howard Stern (2.09 million) defeats Don Imus (1.98 million)
• 50 Cent (68 million) defeats Kanye West (6.72 million), despite what the numbers say
• O.J. Simpson (15 million) narrowly defeats "criminal justice system" (14.4 million)
• Mets (26 million) defeats Yankees (22.9 million)!
  

Googlefight.com: Stage your own celebrity death matches originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 25 Sep 2007 15:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's been a week since our Money Face-Off posts ran here on BloggingStocks and less than a week since the Money Face-Offs were featured on the AOL welcome page, and the response has been terrific. Many of the face-off polls have more than 50,000 votes thus far, and some of the match-ups are very close.

The closest of all is the face-off of CNBC anchors Erin Burnett and Maria Bartiromo: 50/50 with more than 61,000 votes so far. And the post has garnered 39 comments so far. The commenters have strong opinions, whether defending Bartiromo or Burnett, wishing other anchors had been included, complaining about the photos, or even questioning the Money Face-Off feature itself. Be sure to check it out.

The face-off between the former and current New York City mayors, Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg, garnered more than 67,000 votes. While Bloomberg has his defenders, presidential candidate Giuliani currently has a small lead in this match-up, with a little over half the votes. Can he hold on to that lead, though?

The match-up of supermodels turned businesswomen, Tyra Banks vs. Heidi Klum, also has more than 50,000 votes so far. In this case, it's Klum in the lead with about 55 percent of the vote. Only one reader, a Tyra Banks fan, has commented so far. Feel free to add your thoughts about which former supermodel you think is more successful.

Continue reading Money Face-Off recap: The 'Money Honey' catfight, and Giuliani's slim lead here too

Money Face-Off recap: The 'Money Honey' catfight, and Giuliani's slim lead here too originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 23 Sep 2007 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of our Money Face-Offs feature. Let us know who you think comes out ahead in this head-to-head match-up, and check out our other Money Face-Off posts.

From the bodegas of Brooklyn to the penthouses of Central Park, most New Yorkers would probably tell you that they like the present mayor Mike Bloomberg a whole lot better than the previous occupant of Gracie Mansion, Rudy Giuliani.

Neither Bloomberg nor Giuliani suffers from low self-esteem. I worked for Bloomberg LP for seven years and had some brief encounters with Bloomberg over the years. One time, I called him "Mr. Bloomberg" when I shook his hand at the company's Christmas party. He insisted that I call him "Mike." I continued to call him Mr. Bloomberg. Warm and cuddly, he is not, and working for Mike's company wasn't always easy.

Continue reading Money Face-Off: Rudy Giuliani vs. Mike Bloomberg

Money Face-Off: Rudy Giuliani vs. Mike Bloomberg originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 16 Sep 2007 16:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is written as part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst 2006. You can vote for Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal to lose all his money, or see the other nominees in this category.

Called by Time magazine the "Warren Buffett of Saudi Arabia," Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal is a member of the Saudi royal family, as well as a Lebanese citizen through his mother. Though he is the nephew of Saudi King Abdullah, he is not in line to rule Saudi Arabia and has largely stayed out of politics. He is an entrepreneur and international investor with a net worth estimated in 2006 at $20 billion, and he is ranked as the eighth richest person in the world by Forbes.

He has made large investments, through his Kingdom Holding Company, in Citicorp (NYSE:C), AOL (NYSE:TWX), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Motorola (NYSE:MOT), Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), and other technology and media companies. His real estate holdings have included stakes in the Four Seasons hotel chain, the Plaza Hotel in New York, the Monte Carlo Grand Hotel in Monaco, and Euro Disney. In 2005 he purchased the Savoy Hotel in London for £250 million.

In 2001 Prince Al-Waleed's donation of $10 million dollars to New York City in the wake of the September 11 World Trade Center attack was rebuffed by Mayor Giuliani. In 2005 he donated $20 million to the Louvre for the construction of a wing to house the museum's vast collection of Islamic art, and another $20 million to Harvard and Georgetown Universities for Islamic studies programs. He has also donated to centers for American studies at universities in the Middle East, such as the American University in Cairo. He is believed to donate more than $100 million annually to charities throughout Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Best & Worst: Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, Buffett of Mideast -- but not as lovable originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 08 Dec 2006 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.