Behind Build America Bonds’ Popularity, Some Lurking Concerns

It remains one of the most popular ideas in the White House’s economic stimulus law: Helping states and localities weather the credit crisis by selling a new breed of taxpayer-subsidized municipal debt to investors. School districts, transit agencies and water authorities in more than 40 states have won by More…

The Question Geithner Can’t Escape: Why Pay Off AIG’s Partners?

The latest political clamor over AIG, poised to combust next Wednesday at a House hearing on backdoor payments to banks that made risky deals with the company, centers on the Federal Reserve’s effort to conceal details of those payments. But senior officials, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, have so far More…

Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to Wall Street: Save Those Documents

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) is acting under a legal mandate to investigate the “causes of the collapse of each major financial institution” that failed or received a government bailout in the panicked days of last fall — and the FCIC intends to act quickly, Chairman Phil Angelides said More…

Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Mulls Its Own Role in Regulatory Reform

The 10 members of the panel named by Congress to investigate the causes of last year’s economic implosion appear to be wrestling with their role in this year’s push for financial industry regulatory reform, judging from their statements at today’s first hearing.

Brooksley Born, who fought unsuccessfully to regulate derivatives More…

Financial Crisis Panel Starts Today; Should the Banking Industry Worry?

The 10-member commission appointed by Congress to investigate the causes of the nation’s financial meltdown holds its first meeting this morning. But with momentum for stronger regulation of Wall Street slowing and New York emerging as the center of bailout accountability, the commission may More…

Banking PACs’ Erratic Campaign Giving Signals Uncertainty

Even as Congress moves to put more curbs on Wall Street excesses, the nation’s top banks are writing fewer of the campaign checks that once won them lawmakers’ attention – a sign of uncertainty in the financial industry over how large a role it should play in politics in More…

Congress Considers Hiking SEC Budget to Prevent More Madoffs

During George W. Bush’s ill-fated push to privatize Social Security, conservatives condemned the use of surplus retirement taxes to help offset the deficit. But few Democrats or Republicans decry the government’s custom of padding its coffers with fees from an agency with a mission that’s more significant than ever: the More…

Government Taps Bailout Contractors With Conflicts of Interest

As the Wall Street bailout nears its first anniversary, the controversy over giving public money to private banks has become public knowledge. But an equally risky aspect of the financial rescue has flown largely under the radar: the government’s reliance on private contractors – many with potentially significant conflicts of More…

Nuclear Power Gets Boost From Top Campaign Cash Recipients

As the House works toward a deal setting new limits on carbon emissions, nuclear power is getting a boost from a core group of Democrats – the same lawmakers who have received the bulk of the industry’s campaign donations in recent years.

That electric utilities pushing for nuclear expansion More…

Private Equity Firms Lobby Less, As Industry Trade Group Takes More Cash

The proposal to tax private-equity managers’ fees as income rather than at the lower capital gains rate — known as “carried interest” — has been one of the hottest issues on Congress’ plate since it was first proposed nearly two years ago. One veteran K Streeter called it More…