The Congressional Budget Office says the cost of TARP to taxpayers was only $25 billion. (Reuters)

Obama plans to freeze the pay of federal workers for two years. (Reuters)

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) may move back into the TV market and will use its Xbox as the platform to delivers premium content. (Reuters)

News Corp (NYSE: NWS) will probably decide soon about the fate of MySpace. (Reuters)

The recession has caused economists to questions their models to predict future events. (WSJ)

Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) is in a fight with Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) over which company should pay for bandwidth needed to deliver programs. (WSJ)

An EU bailout of Ireland has not stopped fears about Spain and Portugal. (WSJ)

Congress is considering inexpensive health insurance plans for low-paid workers. (WSJ)

Seagate ended it plan to go private. (WSJ)

Cyber Monday retail sales were probably strong. (WSJ)

The distribution battle between Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) and Kraft (NYSE: KFT) picked up momentum. (WSJ)

Eurozone members are concerned that Germany may impose such strict limitations on bailouts that it will damage the euro. (WSJ)

Inflation in China could lead to a stronger yuan. (WSJ)

ABB will buy Baldor Electric for $3 billion.

Toyota Motor (NYSE: TM) sued the GM bankruptcy estate for the costs of closings a JV plant in California. (WSJ)

The Council of Institutional Investors says Wall St. short-term pay is still too high. (WSJ)

Stock brokers are about to increase their presence in China. (WSJ)

Level 3 (NASDAQ: LVLT) says Comcast will impose a fee on the Netflix streaming service. (NYT)

The EU is concerned that as some countries have stagnant economy the leader in providing aid money, Germany, may continue to grow rapidly. (NYT)

Coremetrics says Cyber Monday sales rose 20% over last year. (NYT)

Consolidation in airlines and hotels will raise consumer costs. (NYT)

The economy of India grew 8.9% in the most recent quarter. (FT)

BP plc (NYSE: BP) will start an oil sands operation in Canada. (FT)

Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) will get more of its parts from China. (FT)

Spanish banks may have trouble as they seek to refinance $111 billion in debt next year. (Bloomberg)

European companies have $700 billion in cash. (Bloomberg)

A Citigroup economist says the ECB may have to increase its purchase of Spain’s paper. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre