“Rockefeller Center” on The Daily Caller

New Yorkers are in for the mother of all traffic nightmares Wednesday night, when the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree-lighting coincides with a Barack Obama fundraiser just a few blocks away. The double-booking has drawn criticism from area business leaders, Republican Party officials and now business mogul Donald Trump, who attacked the president’s decision in a YouTube video on Tuesday. (more)

After a break for Thanksgiving, Olbermann returned to “Countdown” with new perspective, a thankful spirit and a gentle heart. Just kidding! He’s still the worst. (more)

Jessica Simpson put pregnancy rumors to bed once and for all by downing margaritas and tequila shots with new fiancé Eric Johnson at Stanton Social after performing at the Rockefeller Center tree lighting on Tuesday. (more)

Goldman Sachs (GS: 148.10 ,+2.79 ,+1.92%), which once commanded the largest proprietary trading department on Wall Street, is in the initial phases of winding down billions of dollars in equity positions, the direct result of new regulatory rules designed to eliminate Wall Street risk taking, FOX Business Network has learned. (more)

The Miss Universe 2010 competition will take place in Las Vegas on Aug. 23, 2010. Here are some photos leading up to the action. The show will be shown at 9 p.m. ET, Aug. 23, on NBC. (more)

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s principal- strategies business, a group that makes bets with the firm’s own capital, plans to transform into a fund and raise outside money, a person with direct knowledge of the decision said. (more)

There will never be another s— deal at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (more)

Viewers are accustomed to watching Hulu, the service that shows network TV programs over the Internet, for free. But a version of Hulu that will charge viewers for access will launch as early as this week, according to people with knowledge of the matter. (more)

A blue-ribbon panel investigating the financial crisis will put Goldman Sachs executives on the hot seat next week, along with officials from American International Group Inc., the big insurance conglomerate. (more)

Get ready to bid bye-bye to the bum-bum. (more)

Now the Real Work Begins - Two years after the economic meltdown and two weeks into a legislative stalemate, Republicans and Democrats yesterday agreed to proceed with debate on the Senate’s financial reform bill. Bloomberg reports that Republicans agreed to go forward after assurances that Democrats would remove from the bill a $50 billion industry-supported fund that would be used to wind down failing firms. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. plunged 9 percent Friday after word that the Justice Department had opened a criminal investigation of the Wall Street powerhouse over mortgage securities deals it arranged. (more)

To implement its agenda, Team Obama develops a narrative according to its needs. Then they send the marching orders out to their brethren in the media, who faithfully run stories sympathetic to the goal du jour. “Deal with us or we take you down,” Obama tells his targets in his best Chicago-style politico-speak. “If you are not at the table with us, you are on the menu.” (more)

During today’s feisty testimony by the executives of Goldman Sachs,  Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) confronted a trader for the financial titan over an email that described a mortgage deal as “shitty.” (more)

If the Senate bill passes, what’s next? – The Senate will vote today on its first steps toward passing a financial reform bill. Any financial reform bill that passes the Senate still needs to be reconciled with the House bill. Bloomberg reports two major — but manageable — differences between the House and Senate version. The Senate bill includes  a plan to study how to implement Obama’s “Volcker Rule” banning proprietary trading by banks, named after former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, who’s advising the president. The administration came up with the Volcker rule after the House had passed its bill. The Senate bill permits such a ban when the Fed finds a threat to the safety and soundness of the company or to national financial stability. Both bills propose a Consumer Financial Protection Agency; the Senate bill has the consumer protection bureau at the Fed, and the House bill proposes a standalone agency. (more)

There’s no such thing as a free lunch. These days even an ad-supported lunch seems a bit too much to ask, according to new reports that say Hulu is planning a subscription service. (more)

The man who takes Sachs of gold is the man who makes the rules. President Obama is that man, and Republicans in Congress should demand an independent special prosecutor to investigate the relationship between gold and rulemaking in the executive branch. With nearly a million dollars of Goldman Sachs money in his hip pocket (rendering that institution his most generous ’08 corporate campaign contributor), Obama appears to be ignoring some serious rule-breaking. (more)

You are going to be tempted. You may already be as guilty as Bernie Madoff himself. (more)

A high-ranking House Republican on Tuesday sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asking for an explanation of the timing of its lawsuit against investment bank Goldman Sachs and whether it engineered a Friday announcement for political purposes. (more)

It was a few years ago, before Phil Mickelson – playing like the best golfer in the world then – would win a U.S. Open at Winged Foot all the way until late Sunday afternoon, all the way until he missed one more fairway with a driver that was behaving that day about as well as Tiger Woods on date night, all the way until he got behind a tree left of the 72nd fairway that looked like the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. (more)