Geithner said he would have to suspend investments in federal retirement funds until August 2nd in order to create room for the government to continue borrowing in the debt markets.
This might not be pretty
May 17, 1845 -
Inventor Stephen Perry received a patent for the rubber band.
In his honor, today is RUBBER BAND DAY.
Once again, proof that I'm old
Call me by Blondie reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts 31 years ago today.
Today in History:
May 17, 1673 -
Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette first set out to explore the course of the Mississippi, which they believed would lead them to paradise.
Unfortunately it only took them to New Orleans, and they weren’t even in time for Mardi Gras.May 17, 1792 -
24 drunken stock brokers got together outside of 68 Wall Street in New York under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street which earlier was the site of a stockade fence and signed an agreement with two provisions:
1) the brokers were to deal only with each other. Thereby eliminating the auctioneers, and
2) the commissions were to be .25%.
Thus the New York Stock Exchange was born (and none of it involving the shadowy derivative market.)May 17, 1899 -
Thomas Alva Edison copyrighted the first western film, The Cripple Creek Bar Room, which he had shot at his Black Maria studio in West Orange, New Jersey, on this date.
Although there was little, if any, plot to this short film, it was the first with a setting in the west.
May 17, 1940 -
Garson Kanin's screwball comedy, My Favorite Wife, opened on this date.
Leo McCarey was supposed to direct the film, but shortly before the filming began he was injured in an automobile accident, and had to hand over the direction to Garson Kanin.
Cary Grant and Randolph Scott, who play rivals in this film, lived together for twelve years from 1932 to 1944 (not that there's anything wrong with that.)May 17, 1950 -
Nicholas Ray's, excellent film noir, In a Lonely Place, starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame premiered on this date.
Gloria Grahame, at the time, was estranged from her husband, the film's director Nicholas Ray. She would subsequently go on to marry her stepson, Ray's son from a previous marriage.
May 17, 1955 -
Paramount Pictures released, The Country Girl, starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and William Holden, based on the Clifford Odets play, on this date.
During filming Grace Kelly managed to juggle having affairs with Bing Crosby, Clark Gable and William Holden (at the same time.)
And people gave Princess Stephanie crap for dating Rob Lowe.
May 17, 1974 -
During a gun battle with members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the LAPD fires tear gas into their Watts hideout. The canisters ignite a fire which soon consumes the house.
Three other SLA members, including kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst, watch the events unfold on TV in their motel room down the street from Disneyland.
Proving once again, it is the happiest place on earth.
May 17, 1992 -
Bandleader, accordion player, and soap bubble aficionado Lawrence Welk dies of pneumonia in his beachfront condo in Santa Monica, California.
The same day, the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses (who knew Welk was so powerful.)
"Now for my accordion solo, Myron, will you join me?"
And so it goes
Marquette Avenue in Minneapolis is known for its banks. Joliet, IL, is known for its prison. Thanks, guys.
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