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http://thehill.com/policy/defense/289290-jeff-bezos-neil-degrasse-tyson-join-pentagon-innovation-board July 26, 2016 - 02:15 PM EDT Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jeff Bezos join DOD innovation board By Rebecca Kheel Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson were among the big names Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced Tuesday as joining the Pentagon’s recently formed Defense Innovation Advisory Board. “I've given them the very specific task of identifying innovative private sector best practices that could be of use to DOD [the Department of Defense] — not unlike our recent Hack the Pentagon pilot program, which invited hackers to help find vulnerabilities in our networks," Carter said during an...

John Paulson and George Soros Score Big Selling OneWest Bank For $3.4 Billion Comment Now Follow Comments A gang made up of some of Wall Street’s biggest names and formed by former Goldman Sachs partner Steve Mnuchin is set to realize a big score from the sale of OneWest Bank to CIT Group CIT +11.19% for $3.4 billion. Hedge fund billionaires John Paulson and George Soros were part of the group that together with buyout baron Christopher Flowers and billionaire Michael Dell bought the assets in 2009 of the former IndyMac, one of the nation’s largest bank failures ever, from...

Over the past few centuries, science can be said to have gradually chipped away at the traditional grounds for believing in God. Much of what once seemed mysterious—the existence of humanity, the life-bearing perfection of Earth, the workings of the universe—can now be explained by biology, astronomy, physics and other domains of science. Although cosmic mysteries remain, Sean Carroll, a theoretical cosmologist at the California Institute of Technology, says there's good reason to think science will ultimately arrive at a complete understanding of the universe that leaves no grounds for God whatsoever. … Another role for God is as a...

Thales has been awarded a contract by Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG (RSK-MiG) to deliver IFF1 Combined Interrogator Transponder (CIT) and Cryptographic National Secure Mode (NSM), for the retrofit of the MiG-29 multi-role fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force. The first CIT will be delivered to RSK-MiG in 2010 and the first building block of a comprehensive secure identification capability in India mid-2011. The IFF CIT equipment chosen in the TSB 2500 family offers a modern digital identification capability, compliant with the NATO Standard MKXA2modes. It will enable Indian Air Force MiG-29 fighter aircraft to be interoperable with western military...

The U.S. Treasury has officially lost its entire $2.33 billion TARP investment in CIT Group(CIT Quote), according to a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission after Monday's closing bell. CIT Group is the largest loss on record under the TARP, though AIG (AIG Quote) General Motors, GMAC, Fannie Mae(FNM Quote), Freddie Mac(FRE Quote), Chrysler and Citigroup each owe the Treasury at least $10 billion each, according to ProPublica

n the wake of the crumbling of certain sandcastles in the sky, sovereign wealth funds in the middle east have baited our analytic gaze over the last month or so. It takes very little, therefore, to prompt us to take careful notice now just about whenever one is mentioned. Today, the Kuwait Investment Authority (hereinafter the "KIA") and its brutal body-blow to Citi demand our attention. While pinning solid figures on any of the sovereign wealth funds in the middle east is a speculative effort at best, it is difficult to come up with figures much smaller than $150-200 billion...

Video at site We had professor William Black on TechTicker this morning. A former regulator who handled the S&L resolution, Prof. Black remains appalled at how this latest round of bailouts has been handled. Case in point? CIT Group. Once again, the white knight who stepped in to save the company--the U.S. taxpayer--gets completely hosed. It didn't have to be this way, says Prof. Black. And the man responsible is Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. Peter Gorenstein: Another one of the nation's largest lenders has filed for bankruptcy. On the brink for months, CIT filed for Chapter 11 protection on Sunday....

CIT Group Inc. filed for bankruptcy Sunday afternoon, after getting approval on most of the details from its creditors. At risk, though, is $2.3 B in taxpayer bailout money, much of which is unlikely to ever be recovered, thus making it the single biggest loss for TARP. CIT is the fifth-largest bankruptcy in the history of the country, in terms of assets, and the company has posted more than $5 billion in losses in the last nine quarters. And once again with the bankruptcy of CIT, Goldman shows the world it is run by a sharper crew of money men...

CIT Files Chapter 11, 76.5% Of Creditors Vote For Prepack (90% of 85% Voting) http://www.zerohedge.com/article/cit-chapter-11

Commercial Lending Giant CIT Files Bankruptcy Government to likely lose $2.3 billion it spent to prop company up last year NEW YORK - Lender CIT Group has filed for bankruptcy protection, in an effort to restructure its debt while trying to keep loans flowing to the thousands of mid-sized and small businesses. CIT made the filing in New York bankruptcy court Sunday, after a debt-exchange offer to bondholders failed. CIT said in a statement that its bondholders have overwhelmingly approved a prepackaged reorganization plan which will reduce total debt by $10 billion while allowing the company to continue to do...

Update | 3:46 p.m. Three months ago, the CIT Group barely averted what it considered to be a ruinous bankruptcy filing that would likely have put the 101-year-old lender out of business. On Sunday afternoon, the company filed for Chapter 11 — but under a so-called prepackaged bankruptcy plan that will enable it to emerge from court protection by the end of the year, under the control of its debtholders. (Read the filing after the jump.) The filing, made in a Manhattan federal court, will still mean much pain for many parties, beginning with taxpayers. CIT received $2.3 billion in...

The $2.3 billion in taxpayer money spent to save CIT Group Inc. is likely to be wiped out, as the lender prepares to file for bankruptcy protection in a high-stakes restructuring plan aimed at keeping the firm in business. People familiar with the plan said CIT, a major lender to small businesses, intends to file for bankruptcy-court protection in New York within days, perhaps as early as Sunday or Monday. Financial firms such as CIT have historically been sold off or wound down after a Chapter 11 filing, for fear that customers will draw down lending lines and cause a...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Troubled lender CIT Group Inc said on Tuesday it has delayed filing its second-quarter report with regulators and said if it could not complete its debt tender or arrange other financing, it would file for bankruptcy. CIT is still reviewing assets and businesses that it may sell as well as the related valuation adjustments that must be included in the quarterly report, it said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. New York-based CIT, which last month secured $3 billion in emergency funding from bondholders, has been battling to restructure its debt and...

We've become slightly famous for accurately predicting the demise of several iconic America companies, including the original AT&T, GM, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In leaving CIT Group Inc to sink or swim on its own, U.S. officials are gambling that financial markets and the economy are now strong enough to withstand the possibility a big lender collapses. On Wednesday, ten months to the day after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers exacerbated the global credit crisis, CIT said bailout talks with the government had ended, a development which may push the 101 year old company closer to failure. Judging from the calm reaction in credit and stock markets on Thursday, it appears investors think leaving CIT to fend for itself is...

Yesterday saw one TARP recipient, Goldman Sachs, report $3.44 billion in profits even as another, CIT, teeters on the edge of either bankruptcy or another taxpayer bailout. Which way CIT will tip remained unclear as we went to press, but its very plight shows how the government's approach to systemic risk has created groups of financial "haves" and "have nots." What the Goldmans of the world have in addition to profits is the widespread belief that they are too big to fail. Both Goldman and CIT converted into bank holding companies at the height of the financial panic last fall,...

The first, which will have the most visible impact on John/Jane Doe, is in relation to California's financial woes and their issuance of IOUs. While certainly rare enough (fortunately), the issuance of IOUs by a state in lieu of payments isn't without prescedence. California did the same thing back in '94. What has changed between then and now, is the response of banks to the issuance. Back in 1994, the banks all accepted the IOUs as legal tender, so once the public got over the initial shock, they quickly found that they could deposit the scrip into their accounts and...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. government officials are in advanced talks about providing some sort of aid to CIT Group Inc., one of the country's primary lenders to small and midsize businesses, people familiar with the matter said. Outside CIT offices Monday in New York. The U.S. might aid the lender. CIT has been battered by heavy losses, but so far, regulators haven't deemed its problems big enough to pose a threat to the broader financial system. Government officials are worried, however, about unforeseen consequences that a CIT collapse could trigger. The Obama administration has struggled to launch a program to spur...

The indeces lost territory for their fourth straight week last week. So, this weakness started about three weeks prior to the last jobs numbers. Stock futures look to be down slightly this morning. The Dow will test 8100 at the open. S&P looks down 5.5 and the NASDAQ is down 6. The markets in Asia were down across the board. The Chinese Hang Seng was down 2.56%, the Japanese NIKKEI was down 2.55%, while the Straits Times Index in Singapore was down 1.79%. Meanwhile, in Europe, it was the reverse. The British FTSE was up 1.18%, the German DAX was...

The Treasury Department and CIT Group Inc. (CIT) have reached agreement on the government buying $2.33 billion of preferred stock and warrants in the lender as part of Treasury's $700 billion bailout program for the financial industry. Shares on Tuesday gained 6.7% to $4.46, building on gains that put the stock up one-third this month. But it is still down 81% this year. The deal means CIT, which makes loans to businesses and individuals, has succeeded in its bid to become a bank holding company, a requirement to take part in the government's Troubled Assets Relief Program. The company had...