Hank Kalet

Economic meltdown?Manny to the rescue

My friend Mike has decided that he is done with Major League Baseball. The reasons, he says, is Manny Ramirez.

“Here we face the biggest financial crisis in years,” he told me this morning, “and he’s getting $45 million guaranteed.”

Yep. But it’s not $45 million. It appears to be at least $60 million — though I suspect there will be a team out there that will guarantee him a cool $100 million for four years. Ouch.

My friend Demetri, however, may have a solution that will get Manny his cash, while also helping with the meltdown of the financial sector.

I got it, the US Treasury should sign Ramirez and work out a revenue sharing deal with MLB. He could be rotated among various teams and a portion of “Manny Games” revenue could go toward buying up the banks’ toxic debt. I think that this is win-win for all involved, especially Manny and his ego.

But why limit this to Manny? How about CC Sabathia — who the Yankees reportedly plan to offer something in the neighborhood of $150 million over six years — or one of the other, high-profile free agents?

It’s a win-win, as Demetri says. The plan is out there, now it’s up to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to make it work.

Runner’s diary, Thursday

it felt good to do four-mile run today (on the treadmill), even if my knees hurt. I felt an odd twinge and a sudden wa eakness in the right one that went away over time. The left started bothering — soreness — as I moved into the third mile. But I got the run in, and that's all that matters.

iPod: Rachel Maddow's radio show

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The wrong kind of bank failure

Bruce Springsteen has long been an advocate on behalf of soup kitchens and food banks, allowing them to make please to his audiences and dropping a bundle of cash on them himself. This ad just follows along in that vein — plus it has one of the better slogans I’ve seen, playing off the federal government’s willingness to aid the financial institutions but not the people really hurting.

The ad aims to help the Community Food Bank of N.J., one of the most important nonprofit groups in the state.

According to a press release from the food bank,the situation is pretty dire, as it is for so many other food banks, pantries and soup kitchens (see our stories this week on the South Brunswick Food Pantry and the pantries in Cranbury, Jamesburg and Monroe).

With bare shelves and demand for food among state residents far outpacing supply, the FoodBank is in danger of being unable to meet the needs of New Jersey’s hungry.

The group says it faces “a dire shortage of food, so much so that — without the public’s support — it may, for the first time in its history, begin to ration food.

This is a state-wide crisis, with the unstable economy resulting in a 30 percent increase in those needing food. In years past, the Community FoodBank of New Jersey has provided assistance to more than 500,000 New Jerseyans, but expects to see a major uptick in need this year, especially during the winter months when people often struggle between paying heating and food bills.

The ad, which will hit the dailies on Sunday, is a “call to action for people to contribute in any way they can.”

A supporter of the FoodBank for 23 years, this ad marks the first time Springsteen has publicly lent his image to the campaign, due to the urgency of the situation. The Grammy award winning musician often donates proceeds from his concerts to the organization.

To help, check out www.njfoodbank.org or call 908-355-FOOD (3663).

Cabinet building — Treasury edition

A lot of names have been floated for treasury secretary, but the three names that are most interensting to me are current FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair, former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich and two Nobel Prize-winning economists, Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz. You could do worse that choosing from this quartet. All are focused on homeowners, taxpayers and citizens — the consumers in this corporate economy — and believe that the people who took the risks that led to the banking meltdown should pay the price.

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