US Economic Bailout of 2008

By Norman Goldman Goldman Sachs got $10 billion in bailout money -- no strings attached. That's the amount the big investors want for bonuses. Should we all say "You're welcome"? The Administration is nowhere to be found (indeed, current Treasury Secretary and last year's bailout leader as chief of the New...

By Randy-G Will GM Spend Taxpayer Bailout Money on Overseas Operations? http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/general-motor-spend-taxpayer-bailout-money-overseas-operations/story?id=9091248 Congress says a trillion for health care reform?

At a Joint Economic Committee hearing in Congress, in which House and Senate members sit on a panel, Brady opened up his questioning by telling Geithner that Republicans, Democrats, and the American people had lost confidence in him and asked him to resign.

By webmaster@nationalreview.com (Iain Murray) Scandal update: This past spring, TMQ supposed the worst part of the federal bailout of AIG was that the company's debts were paid 100 percent -- rather than negotiating cents-on-the-dollar discounts, which creditors almost always accept when a debtor faces bankruptcy. "Instead of...

By Paul Abrams The Treasury Secretary has become a continuing liability for this President. By stepping down, Geithner can rightly claim some successes, and provide the President an opportunity to appoint a Treasury Secretary that not only does not have ties to Wall Street, but also who has a history o...

Too Big to Fail: A group of Bank of America officials will testify today before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as part of a series of hearings into the process and reasoning behind the bailouts to BofA and Merrill Lynch.

By The Huffington Post News Editors The Federal Reserve Bank of New York – headed at the time by now Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner – paid AIG's business partners face value for securities so they would cancel insurance-like contracts AIG had written and ease the firm's liquidity crunch. But at least one of those partn...

By Zac Bissonnette The rest of the $50 billion flushed into General Motors has been converted into equity, meaning it does not have to be paid back. The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that "GM still has $13.4 billion in an escrow account that came from its U.S. bailout, or twice the amount it...

By Michael Shedlock(noreply@blogger.com) David Stevens: "Bailout is a term widely used with financial institutions. FHA is a government agency so let's just be clear. .... FHA does not operate under the same context as a typical financial institution. So the term bailout really just does not apply technically"

By Michael Shedlock(noreply@blogger.com) Kenneth Donohue, inspector general of the Housing and Urban Development Department, seemed to be shaking his head. “What does the FHA think it is doing by asking only 3.5 percent?” he asked. (FHA is part of HUD.) Fannie Mae exists to expand affordable housing.

By mail@democracynow.org (Democracy Now!) Alleged 9/11 Conspirators to Be Tried in NYUS Seizes Mosques, Buildings for Alleged Iran TiesGates "Appalled" by Admin Leaks on Afghan WarBritish PM: US Allies Could Send 5,000 Troops to AfghanistanObama Rejects Visit to Hiroshima, NagasakiFt. Hood Suspect Charged, Faces Death Pena...

By The Huffington Post News Team Bailout Ben," released in May, involves helping Federal Reserve Board Ben Bernanke to lower cash to failing companies. "Bailout America," released in February, involves moving obstacles out of the way to help Uncle Sam funnel more money to greedy bankers. "Bag the Bankers," meanwhile,...

By Sen. Ted Kaufman Congress and the SEC have not enacted any reforms. And the American people remain at risk of another financial debacle. Mr. President, we must never let this happen again. Mr. President, I rise today because I am deeply concerned that just over one year since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, a f...

By Sen. Bernie Sanders President Bush and Ben Bernanke told us we needed to bail out Wall Street because we could not allow big financial institutions and insurance giants to fail because if they failed it would have led to the collapse of the U.S. and global economies.

By Les Leopold TARP is only one of the many government bailout programs that pours billions into the coffers of Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and, Morgan Stanley. Their bottom-lines and bonuses, for example, were fattened when we allowed A,I.G. to pay off it bets (with our money) at par value to these larg...

By Michael Shedlock(noreply@blogger.com) Plosser didn’t elaborate on how the Fed would dispose of the $1.25 trillion of mortgage-backed securities it plans to purchase through March. The Fed is also buying up to $200 billion of housing-finance debt as part of efforts to lower interest rates and revive home-buying.

By Ellen Brown Despite trillions of dollars in bailout money, bank loans fell to their lowest rate since the onset of the Great Depression. Now that the Fed has done all they can, is it time for the states to step in? The credit crunch is getting worse on Main Street, despite a Wall Street bailout that now mea...

By Les Leopold Windfall Profits Taxes on Wall Street? Forgetaboutit. Now that we've given Wall Street upwards of $13 trillion in taxpayer funds and guarantees, they are keeping the profits. Neither the White House nor Congress has the stomach for taxing it away.

By John O'Kane Refinancing has become very difficult, even for those with equity, because regulations regarding loan-to-value (LTV) have been tightened at a time when this "value" is shrinking rapidly. Applicants looking into the Obama Home Affordable Program will be allowed a max CLTV -- combined...

It looked like it was business as usual for President Barack Obama on the first day of his Martha’s Vineyard vacation, as he spent five hours golfing with Robert Wolf, president of UBS Investment Bank and chairman and CEO of UBS Group Americas. Wolf, an early financial backer of Obama’s pre...

It looked like it was business as usual for President Barack Obama on the first day of his Martha’s Vineyard vacation, as he spent five hours golfing with Robert Wolf, president of UBS Investment Bank and chairman and CEO of UBS Group Americas. Wolf, an early financial backer of Obama’s pre...

It looked like it was business as usual for President Barack Obama on the first day of his Martha’s Vineyard vacation, as he spent five hours golfing with Robert Wolf, president of UBS Investment Bank and chairman and CEO of UBS Group Americas. Wolf, an early financial backer of Obama’s pre...

It looked like it was business as usual for President Barack Obama on the first day of his Martha’s Vineyard vacation, as he spent five hours golfing with Robert Wolf, president of UBS Investment Bank and chairman and CEO of UBS Group Americas. Wolf, an early financial backer of Obama’s pre...

By Michael Likosky Secretary of Treasury Geithner is now going to Congress to ask to increase the federal debt limits. The federal government now owes, $11.7 trillion. That's about $38,000 per individual. California is in debt on the order of $60+ billion. This amounts to less than $2,000 per Californian.

By Nathan Lewis Another way has been through the Federal Reserve, via the alphabet soup of "lending facilities" which basically amount to the Fed trading cash for what is potentially garbage: the TAF, TSLF, PDCF, AMLF, CPFF, and MMIFF. Unless I am mistaken, this takes the trash off the balance sheets of t...

By The Huffington Post News Team By the numbers, the answer is "slowly." Three weeks ago, at the beginning of June, the New York Times reported that 100,000 loan modifications had been offered to struggling homeowners. This week, a Treasury Department spokesperson told the Huffington Post that participating mortgage...

By rss@youtube.com (hlslib) Author: hlslib Keywords: Harvard Law School Library research tutorial legal law legislation bill bailout executive compensation Thomas of Congress free internet Added: May 28, 2009

By Jamie Court President Obama said during the campaign that he was opposed to mandatory purchases of private insurance, but new Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebilius said recently the president was willing to consider the mandatory purchase notion.

By webmaster@nationalreview.com (Larry Kudlow) JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said today that he wants to get out from under TARP, which he regards as “a scarlet letter.” Goldman Sachs is also ready to pull the de-TARP trigger. So is Wells Fargo. But here’s a key question: Will the de-TARPed banks move completely out from under government contro...

By Tom Petruno At Goldman Sachs Group, the U.S. Treasury became one managing director too many. The Wall Street giant late today confirmed rumors that had been bubbling in recent days: It plans to raise $5 billion in new capital via a stock... At Goldman Sachs Group, the U.S. Treasury became one managing directo...

By Diane Francis Nobody knows whether the current Washington bailout plans with banks, General Motors and real estate will work quickly, at all or at what cost to... Nobody knows whether the current Washington bailout plans with banks, General Motors and real estate will work quickly, at all or at what cost...

By The Huffington Post News Editors WASHINGTON — The White House says neither General Motors nor Chrysler submitted acceptable plans to receive more bailout money, setting the stage for a crisis in Detroit and putting in motion what could be the final two months of two American auto giants. More on Auto Bailout

Taxpayers’ bailout money for AIG bonuses has rightfully provoked a massive backlash against AIG, Wall Street, President Barack Obama and his economic advisers, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Larry Summers. The U.S. public now owns 80 percent of AIG. The outrage is bipartisan: I...

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By James Warren Of course, President Obama, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, acerbic Rep. Barney Frank and others could vent over Man U multi-millionaires Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand being assisted by our taxpayer dollars. But I suspect the elected officials may not even know th...

By The Media Consortium The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) allowed the government to inject capital into banks, but Paulson charged them a much lower than market rate of return on the investment. As a result, taxpayers missed out on about $78 billion that they could have expected to receive in interest pay...

Last week, Senate Republicans, joined by some Democrats, blocked a package backed by the White House and House that would have provided $14 billion in loans to General Motors and Chrysler. Classifying the collapse of the bailout as a North versus South issue, is "nice spin from the unions...

The $700-billion financial bailout package, TARP (Troubled Assets Relief Program), was supposed to mandate the elimination of exorbitant executive compensation and “golden parachutes.” As U.S. taxpayers pony up their hard-earned dollars, highflying executives and corporate boar...

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By editor@aero-news.net There's an airline bailout coming, but not from government. Airline employment has dropped sharply. And JetBlue founder David Neeleman is back in business. Sponsored By... www.garmin.com www.diamondaircraft.com http://caravanpostcards.com/ www.cirrusdesign.com www.clarityaloft.com

If Congress approves a bailout for the nation's top three automakers, the industry will have to change its ways. Congressman Ron Kind (D-WI) says the Big Three should expect to change much of the way they do business, which could include consolidation and an end to some current business pr...

By texpat I agree with Dr. Kiesling that this article for the Wall Street Journal is probably the best piece to date written on the industry’s problems and why it should undergo creative destruction.  David Yermack wrote: Finally, Megan McArdle, the prominent Atlantic writer and economist, write...

By Charles D. Ellison Let's admit, a reasonable "big idea" alternative to the "bailout" plan is in short supply. Our imagination these days only goes so far as what fixes we can buy ourselves out of. But, if you bailout... (cough) excuse me -- hook up -- the "Big 3" autos (who could never seem to catch up with competitor...

Re "States chime in for bailout" (Page A1, Nov. 15): I have one word for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York Gov. David Paterson begging the federal government to bail out their states spending frenzy, No! It is bad enough that Congress is throwing good money after bad to help every Wall St...

Banks that have received billions in U.S. Treasury investments are using the money to shore up capital ratios, look for acquisitions and make more loans.

Taxpayers and the media had better be able to review Chrysler’s books and planned payouts if the company applies for government loans. President-elect Obama and other Democrats have talked a lot about transparency. This would be a good place to start.

But even before the Wall Street bailout, President Bush spent money in a way that would make any liberal proud. By almost every measure, government grew bigger, more expensive and more intrusive under President Bush and the Republican Congress.

By info@stratfor.com Optimists will say the medicine of the $700 billion bailout in the United States and assorted other remedies applied in other parts of the world have started to work. Pessimists say there is still a lot of bad news to come. Both are likely true, though recession in Europe is likely to be longer...

By Mumia Abu-Jamal While unemployment, foreclosures, homelessness, and repression evokes little more than a sneer, let the market feel failing stocks, or let banks stumble, and the deregulators come running to save their betters. Need loans? Need a bailout? Need a buyout? Nothing is too much for the well...

By newsteam@cfr.org (Council on Foreign Relations) CFR's Benn Steil analyzes the financial rescue plan under debate on Capitol Hill and suggests adjustments that he says would make it more effective and less risky for the federal government.

By Mark Rose The worse the financial markets become, the more financial issues are pushed to the fore, especially in the heat of a Presidential race, the more more we rely on financial media to report and analyse critical issues. This week the Wall Street Journal online rolled out a radically new l...

The demise of Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH), fire sale of Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) and probable demise of American International Group (NYSE: AIG), sidestepped by a massive government bailout, show another facet of the same greed and poor business strategy.