Monday morning headlines

Mish-mash market: Mixed economic news and reports of a new bailout package for Greece lead this morning's headlines. Dow is up about 50 points in early trading.

Benefits expire: As many as 1 million Americans could lose their unemployment benefits as a result of the intransigence by Republican Sen. Jim Bunning. But Senate Democrats - and even some Republicans - say they hope to get around the roadblock as early as this week. From the NYT:

The action by Mr. Bunning, who is insisting that the spending on the jobless pay not be added to the deficit, is also affecting other federal programs, including federal highway construction spending since the measure Mr. Bunning is impeding also extended the highway program. Some workers at the Department of Transportation may be furloughed since their salaries are paid out of the expired program.

Payday loans for jobless: The same folks who have been providing cash advances on paychecks are doing the same thing for unemployment checks. From the LAT:

No job? No problem. A typical unemployed Californian receiving $300 a week in benefits can walk into one of hundreds of storefront operations statewide and walk out with $255 well before that government check arrives -- for a $45 fee. Annualized, that's an interest rate of 459%.

Buffett worries about health care: He says the system needs fundamental reform, calling its effect on U.S. businesses an "economic tape worm." Buffett is taking questions on CNBC this morning. (Clusterstock)

Berkshire is back: Buffett describes how he's used the last 18 months to buy up a string of assets, including Burlington Northern Santa Fe (he says a climate of fear is an investor's best friend). The company had net income of $8.1 billion last year, a 61 percent jump from 2008. (NYT)

Calpers considers rate cut: California's giant pension fund may stop pushing for a 7.75 percent a year return, a circumstance that would require local governments - and perhaps employees - to pick up the difference. From the WSJ:

Paying more into Calpers could deepen the financial misery facing many California governments. Some likely would increase taxes or cut services. For the pension fund, lower investment-return expectations could reduce the temptation to seek outsize profits through real-estate, private-equity and other nontraditional investments that wound up burning Calpers with big losses.

Abusing vacation pay: State workers are supposed to bank only a certain number of vacation hours - typically 80 days worth - but the limit is routinely exceeded. At least $100 million was paid between 2006 and mid-2009 to retiring state employees who went over the state caps. One worker walked away with 800K in vacation and compensatory time. (California Watch)

Jay's back: NBC executives can only hope there's no long-term damage from the 10 p.m. fiasco that led to the departure of Conan O'Brien. (The Wrap)

Oscar ads sold out: Pricing is higher than last year but lower than 2008. Hyundai, Coca-Cola and JCPenney are among the big sponsors. (Media Week)

Actor union makes up: AFTRA voted to revive a joint bargaining agreement with the Screen Actors Guild. The longstanding arrangement was upended two years ago in a dispute over bargaining strategy. SAG's board is expected to follow suit. (LAT)

Stat of the day: One-third of those surveyed in a new Pew survey use their cell phones for access to news. More than 60 percent get their news from the Internet. (SF Chronicle)

NYT gets screen time: Coffee shops, airport newsstands and other retailers in five cities, including L.A., will display NYT content. RMG Networks, which own the publicly accessible screens, is working with the paper. (NYT)