I like the Michael Smerconish Show, and frankly suspect anybody who doesn't. This morning he interviewed Brian Tierney, the managing partner of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News (who put up $10m of his own money to keep the papers local). The interview, which you can hear as a podcast here , is interesting for a number of reasons. The most interesting is when Tierney talks about banks. The Daily News saw profits drop from $51m to $36m last year, but still turned a profit. The corporation filed for Chapter 11 to restructure its debt. Tierney discusses the representatives from Citigroup and other banks riding down to Philly in their limos to make demands and give him advise that he has to take because they are covenanted creditors, for whose consultations he must pay $300k per month. Tierney points out the incredible irony of bankers who are on the public dole, and whose stocks have tanked by 90-96% of last year's value coming in to give business advice to a set of new...