Bloomberg sez:

MBIA Inc. and Ambac Financial Group Inc. lost their AAA credit ratings. The biggest hospital in Sarasota, Florida, is paying the price.

David Verinder, chief financial officer of the Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, received daily e-mail messages last month informing him that interest costs on an $83 million bond issue were rising to 1.45 percent, to 1.75 percent, to 3.25 percent, to 5.9 percent, and finally to 9 percent by June 24, a more than fivefold increase.

In March, the Sarasota health network had tried to escape high rates by converting the bonds from auction-rate securities. The February collapse of the $330 billion market where rates are determined through periodic bidding drove interest costs as high as 11 percent.

Warning on oil prices from OPEC president.

The baby boomer generation did not save enough money to retire.

Great diary at the top of the Recommended list.

UPDATE: This diary was originally titled "Amtrak has Only 632 Usable Train Cars Left."  This info comes from the New York Times article cited below.  However, I'm starting to wonder ...  Does this number work out right?  Anybody aware of a differing statistic?

Wikipedia says that Amtrak has 720 coach cars, 168 sleeping cars and 126 first/business class cars.  No info on how many of these are in service -- presumably, many of these are the "dozens" that Amtrak does not keep active.  This is a larger number than was reported in the Times.

Oh, jeez.

More signs that the Bush Economy is still booming!

You are a liar.

Ever been to Padova?

Guys, I'm just going to come out and say it.

Some more commentary  from CNN contributor Ruben Navarette ...

It's not about you.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, Democrat (of course) of Washington was just on CNN talking about news that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating trading practices for crude oil in unregulated and under-regulated markets.

And we just keep sinking.

But first, I wanted to clear up some confusion regarding what she actually said the other day regarding Bobby Kennedy and the context in which she said it.

Please, everyone ...

Join me and this CNN/Money columnist in fighting against W. Virginia teacher pensions.

Ugh, no ...  This is not the way to do it.  Here is something I think works better.

My open letter to Hillary Clinton supporters:

Hillary Clinton:

"You know, there was just an article posted that found how Senator Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans -- white Americans -- is weakening again, and how the whites in both states (Indiana and North Carolina), who had not completed college were supporting me," Mrs. Clinton said. "These are the people you have to win, if you're a Democrat, in sufficient numbers to actually win the election. Everybody knows that."

In a hilariously stupid diary entry yesterday and comments, the Daily Kos community warned a well-known Clinton supporter not to support Obama if he is the nominee in November.