Just two of the not-so-subtle ads to be shown during the Super Bowl. And I'm not even including the Go-Daddy silliness.

David Lee, the Korean-American doctor who made a fortune buying up properties all over L.A., has been thrown off the board of Premier Business Bank, which he founded six years ago. Lee had been participating in risky business practices, according to federal regulators. The story will be in the Business Journal's Feb. 6 edition (out on Monday).

The FDIC issued the removal order and assessed a $75,000 civil penalty against Lee Dec. 19. Lee denied the allegations but elected not to fight them and stepped down. The order is a rare occurrence for someone of his position in the banking industry, according to industry experts. "The thing that strikes me is he's a principal who's permanently barred from banking," said Gary Findley, president of banking law firm Gary Steven Findley & Associates in Anaheim.

Jim Flanigan profiled Lee several years back in the NYT:

Bargain hunting is an art the doctor has practiced since buying his first office building on Wilshire Boulevard in 1995. Los Angeles was under a cloud at the time in the aftermath of riots in 1992, brush fires in 1993 and an earthquake in 1994. Insurance companies were selling half-empty buildings at knockdown prices, seeing no way the economy would revive. But David Lee knew that a hidden market existed among Korean immigrant entrepreneurs, many of them recent arrivals who had been forced into early retirement in corporate restructurings back home. Lacking a credit rating in America but rich with severance and retirement bonuses, they had cash to pay the rent for office space for businesses to serve the city's fast-growing Korean population, which is pushing 300,000 today, up from 190,000 in 1990.

The Dow gained 154 points, to 12,859, its highest close since May 2008. The tech-heavy Nasdaq finished at its highest level since December 2000. What's striking about the last few weeks of trading is the lack of volatility - we're not seeing those huge swings of 200 or 300 points in a single session. Who knows why there's so much calm, but the effect can't help but be assuring, even among those who are not invested in the market.

First off, February is a long way from November, and the recovery, such as it is, has been devilishly unpredictable. So there's that. But even assuming that the economy continues to improve, Romney is likely to stick to the script. From NY magazine's Jonathan Chait:

Romney has been claiming that President Obama's policies have "made the economy worse." Journalism fact-checkers are pummeling him for it, pointing out that the economy is not actually doing worse than when Obama took office. That's true, but, as so often occurs, the fact-checkers are being annoyingly overliteral in their interpretation of his words. Romney isn't necessarily saying that the economy is worse, merely that Obama's policies worsened the economy - that is, that the economy would have recovered more strongly in the absence of his intervention. Now, I find that claim ridiculous, as would pretty much the entire macroeconomic forecasting field. But it's not a provably false statement.

As I've been saying, there are three indicators that will determine whether the president is reelected: The unemployment rate, gas prices, and the stock market. Business Insider charts how Obama's popularity and the S&P 500 are practically in lockstep.

Yep. Investor James Ross paid 102 percent of his taxable income in federal, state and local taxes for 2010. But taxable income is the key phrase, as NYT columnist James Stewart explains:

That doesn't mean Mr. Ross pays more in taxes than he earns. His total tax as a percentage of his adjusted gross income was 20 percent, which is much lower than mine. That's because Mr. Ross has so many itemized deductions. Since taxable income is what's left after itemized deductions like mortgage interest, charitable contributions, and state and local taxes are subtracted, it will nearly always be smaller than adjusted gross income and demonstrates how someone can pay more than 100 percent of taxable income in tax. Mr. Ross must hope that his interest expense will pay off down the road and generate some capital gains.

Still, all of Mr. Ross's itemized deductions are money out of his pocket, which is why he's had to draw on his savings to pay his taxes. Robert Willens, a tax expert and New York attorney, made the argument that taxable income, therefore, may be a better basis for measuring the tax burden. In any event, by either measure Mr. Ross pays a higher rate than Mr. Romney. "I had no idea I was paying such a high rate," he told me when we spoke this week. "I had trouble believing this was possible. I called my accountant, and I said, 'Do you realize I'm paying every penny I have in taxable income? I'm dipping into savings to pay my income tax.' He said, 'It's unfortunate, but at your income level' " -- with high earned income and large itemized deductions that Mr. Ross can't take advantage of -- " 'that's just the way it is.' "

The point of the story is that the tax code is outrageous, whatever income bracket you're in.

Barbara Desoer, who has overseen much of the bank's home loan operations (which includes a huge Socal presence), will be retiring this month. In a memo, she said it was her decision. "I have given it my all," she said. From the WSJ:

Ms. Desoer had her role at the bank reduced twice last year amid a reshuffling of the retail banking and mortgage leadership team. In September, the Charlotte, N.C., bank removed Ms. Desoer as a direct report to Mr. Moynihan. In recent months she worked on an integration of the bank's home-loan division into consumer and small-business banking, and she said she "made the choice to retire and get on with the next phase of my life."

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Ms. Desoer was the last high-profile holdover from San Francisco-based BankAmerica Corp., which was acquired by Charlotte-based NationsBank Corp. in 1998. Mr. Lewis tapped her to run the mortgage business in 2008, after the purchase of troubled California mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. Ms. Desoer moved from Charlotte to California so she could oversee operations first hand. Her division struggled under the weight of hundreds of thousands of delinquent loans issued by Countrywide and scores of lawsuits and mounting demands from investors that the bank repurchase souring mortgage backed securities.

I interviewed Desoer last summer for my Los Angeles magazine piece on B of A's troubles.

That's what Commissioner Roger Goodell said on NBC last night. And Goodell prefers adding two franchises, not just one, because he would like to see 34 teams in the league (that avoids scheduling hassles). Up to now, it's been assumed that the NFL would return to L.A. by moving one of the existing teams. There have been several possible candidates, but little indication of a deal. That's why Goodell's expansion comments are so significant. Goodell told Bob Costas that several issues in L.A. remain unresolved, including which of the two stadium proposals (downtown or in the City of Industry) are considered the best. Some months ago, Goodell said he didn't expect a team coming to L.A. in 2012. (AP)

*Update: Hold everything - Goodell is now pushing back on the expansion idea. From AP:

During his annual Super Bowl news conference, Commissioner Roger Goodell said Friday that adding to the league's 32 teams "has not been on our agenda" and that he doesn't "see that in the foreseeable future." He also said the NFL wants "to keep our teams where they are."