President-elect Barack Obama on Friday rounded out his Cabinet selections as he prepares to take office on January 20. "I am excited about the opportunities," Senator Bernie Sanders said of the new administration. But he added, "The country faces enormous problems." In Vermont, it was announced on Friday that the statewide unemployment rate jumped to 5.7 percent in November. In Washington, the federal government threw a $17.4 billion lifeline to General Motors and Chrysler to keep the American automobile industry from collapsing. Amid all the front-page headlines about the sorry state of the economy, there also was news in the last week about Pentagon waste, credit card ripoffs, exploited farm workers and Deep Throat.

Pentagon Waste The Pentagon continues to waste billions of dollars on unneeded spare parts, according to a new investigation into Navy purchasing practices that was requested by Sanders. Despite repeated warnings about longstanding problems with the military's inventory management, $7.5 billion worth of unneeded parts were stashed in Navy warehouses annually. "At a time when the nation has a $10.6 trillion debt, we simply cannot afford the continuing uncontrollable waste across the federal agencies," Sanders said. The bloated inventories were so big that the parts on hand in some cases exceeded the actual expected demand for the items for decades to come, according to the report. In addition to the hefty price tag for the unnecessary parts, the Navy shelled out $18 million just to store the excess parts. To read the GAO report, click here. To watch Bernie on military spending, click here.

Credit Cards Sanders called it absurd that federal regulators put off until July 2010 new consumer protections against credit card industry abuses like arbitrary increase in interest rates. "For far too long, credit card companies have been allowed to charge sky-high fees and loan-shark interest rates to pad their profits. Why should they get another year and a half to rip off American consumers?" asked Sanders, who for years fought for legislation to stop credit card abuses. Under the new regulations approved yesterday, credit card companies will be able to raise interest rates only on new credit cards and future purchases or advances, but not on current balances. Companies will have to give credit card holders 45 days' notice before any changes are made to the terms of an account, including a higher penalty rate for missing payments or paying bills late. The regulations also will stop lenders from applying all payments to balances with low interest rates when a borrower has balances with higher rates. The rules were approved by the Federal Reserve, the Office of Thrift Supervision and the National Credit Union Administration. Most of the rules were proposed by the Fed as long ago as last May. Sanders will introduce legislation to cap bank fees and interest rates and support legislation to put the consumer protections into law immediately.

Slavery in America It was sentencing day Friday in Florida for the leaders of a farm crew convicted on slavery charges. U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas Frazier at a September hearing made it clear who paid the men entering guilty pleas. "The money came from the growers? Is that what you're telling me? For your work and the work of your crew?" the judge asked one of the defendants. "It did," one answered. "It came from the growers." Sanders, who represents the first place in America to outlaw slavery, was touring Florida tomato fields with representatives of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers on the day when indictments were returned. The criminal case was the seventh involving slavery charges brought in federal court in Florida in the past 11 years.

All the Presidents Men As the nation anticipates the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States and as the president elect filled out his cabinet, it is a natural time to look back at previous residents of the White House. Who were the best and worst? In early results of our new survey, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington are the most admired. The worst? As of Friday, more people thought George W. Bush deserved that dubious distinction than Richard Nixon, who resigned in disgrace thanks in large part to W. Mark Felt Sr. Felt, associate director of the FBI during the Watergate scandal, became the most famous anonymous source in American history. Deep Throat died Dec. 18 at his home in California.