The Federal Reserve is beginning a program to drain some of the unprecedented liquidity it added to markets during the credit crisis.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Monday it will begin conducting reverse repurchase agreements. That’s when the Fed sells securities from its portfolio with an agreement to buy them back later.

Funny, it’s that initial act of adding liquidity into the credit markets that created the mess we are in now. Thanks guys!

The Treasury Department sank billions into auto finance giant GMAC Inc. without an exit strategy or proof the company was viable — a decision that could cost taxpayers $6.3 billion, a new watchdog report says.

The government said the $17.2 billion bailout was a necessary step to save troubled automakers General Motors and Chrysler. GMAC provides critical financing to auto dealers, who borrow to finance their fleets until the cars can be sold to consumers.

ITT Educational Services (NYSE:ESI – News) didn’t pay $20.8 million for debt-ridden Daniel Webster College in June just to acquire its red-brick campus, 1,200 students, or computer science and aviation training programs.

To ITT, the third-biggest higher-education company in the U.S., the Nashua (N.H.) college’s “most attractive” feature was its regional accreditation, says Michael Goldstein, an attorney at Dow Lohnes, a Washington firm that has long represented the Carmel (Ind.) company. Regional accreditation, the same gold standard of academic quality enjoyed by Harvard, is a way to increase enrollment and tap into the more than $100 billion the federal government pays out annually in financial aid.

It may be the same regional accreditation, but saying you went to ITT rather than Harvard sure doesn’t raise any eyebrows.

The jobless rate in the Las Vegas area jumped to 13.8 percent in January, the 13th consecutive month of double-digit unemployment.

Hardest hit was the construction industry, where employment fell from 63,000 in December 2009 to 51,700 in January. But there was a rebound in gaming employment in January with 151,200 on the job, compared to 146,200 in December.

The Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation reported today that statewide, the seasonally adjusted jobless rate was 13 percent with an estimated 187,700 people out of work. The 13 percent compares to the national average of 9.7 percent for January.

Thirteen percent!!! Something’s not working.

Sex.com, often touted as one of the most valuable Internet domain names, is due to head to the auction block next week.

DOM Partners LLC, a New Jersey lender that backed a 2006 purchase of the domain name for a reported $14 million, is foreclosing on the Internet property, and is due to auction it on March 18 at New York law firm Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf LLP, according to legal notices.

Bidding for the Internet property, the tumultuous past of which includes several lawsuits and two books, is due to start at $1 million.

Face it, sex sells but it doesn’t always pay the bills.

Orders to U.S. factories posted the biggest increase in four months in January, led by a surge in demand for commercial aircraft. The increase was another sign that manufacturing is helping to support the economic recovery.

The Commerce Department said Thursday that factory orders rose 1.7 percent in January, slightly below the 1.8 percent gain economists had expected. It was the best showing since a 1.8 percent advance in September.

Oh wait. There was a 118% gain in orders for commercial airplanes. It’s all making sense now.

Ford Motor Co. outsold General Motors Co. in February for the first time in more than a decade.

Ford sold 334 more cars than GM in the U.S. It was the first time since August 1998 that Ford outsold GM.

If people are like me, they’ll be buying Ford cars and trucks instead of Government Motors cars and trucks in the future as well.

The post office is renewing its drive to drop Saturday delivery — and plans a rate increase — in an effort to fend off a projected $7 billion loss this year.

Without drastic action the agency could face a cumulative loss of $238 billion over 10 years, Postmaster General John Potter said in releasing a series of consultant reports on agency operations and its outlook.

We don’t see our mail carrier on Saturday’s that much anyway, I thought they had already cancelled Saturday delivery.

Google has acquired Picnik, whose Web-based application lets people import and edit photos in a browser.

“We’re not announcing any significant changes to Picnik today, though we’ll be working hard on integration and new features,” wrote Brian Axe, a Google product management director, in an official blog on Monday.

I wonder if this is one of those acquisitions where they let the product die as they incorporate the technology into something else, or is this going to be one of those rare exceptions?

Crossposted at The Alligator Pit.

Gov. Sonny Perdue joined Korean and American dignitaries in celebrating the opening of Kia’s first North American manufacturing facility in west Georgia Friday.

“This is a momentous day for Georgia as Kia Motors has brought thousands of new jobs to this area and is truly delivering as tremendous corporate citizen,” Perdue said at an opening event attended by Sen. Saxby Chambliss and other dignitaries who heard a keynote speech from Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group chairman and CEO Chung Mong Koo.

Perdue and Chung announced that Kia would come to Georgia four years ago.