snow day

Feb 1, 2008—George W. Bush took office in 2001 with budget surpluses projected to stretch years into the future. .. The longer-term picture is darker. .. The next president, if he or she serves two terms, could find the US government so deeply in hock that it would face losing its Triple-A credit rating, something that has never happened since Moody’s Investors Service began grading US securities in 1917—WSJ A1

--Bush said he won’t jeopardize security gains in Iraq by a hasty withdrawal, another sign force reductions could slow or stop this summer. WSJ A1

--More US cities were added to a Homeland Security list of places at high risk for terrorist attacks. WJ A1

--The Western US faces the threat of a water crisis from human caused climate change, a study concluded. WSJ A1

--Suicides by soldiers rose 20% last year from 2006 despite more mental health programs, the Army reported. WSJ A1

--Societe Generale says wayward trader Jerome Kerviel lost the bank $7.2 billion. But that was last week. He’s now on his way to cult celebrity-and he still hasn’t lost his job. Societie Generale has stopped paying Mr. Kerviel and told him not to come to the office, but it hasn’t managed to formally fire him. French law stipulates that to do that, the bank must first call him in for a sit-down meeting and explain its dissatisfaction. He has the right to bring along a trade-union official, a lawyer or anyone else he’d like. ...”Let’s be honest: No one likes bank... and people like the rich to get cheated,” says Christophe Rocancourt, a celebrated French con man who swindled wealthy Americans in the 1990s by masquerading as a french member of the Rockefeller family... Firing has never been easy in France, where on-the-spot dismissals a l’americaine are viewed as brutal and very un-French. ...Even Nicloas Sarkozy, who became president vowing to shake up France, hasn’t proposed that bosses be allowed to can workers at will. .. WSJ A1, a12