$700 billion bailout

The final count was 260 to 166, with 10 Democrats voting in opposition and 18 Republicans voting in support.
Senate Democrats, of course, have shown little interest in considering the reform bill, which restricts the Treasury Department’s spending of the second half of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout. Leaders in the upper chamber have indicated [...]

Congressional Democratic leaders want to give GM, Ford and Chrysler billions of dollars to save them from bankruptcy. But the White House and the GOP are skeptical about throwing more money at an industry that has resisted calls to change. Are car manufacturers too big to fail?

With all the news about partially nationalizing banks, and with the candidates rolling out new economic proposals and facing off in a debate tonight over their prescriptions for the credit crunch, it’s easy to forget that the whole mess still comes down to simple things: A homeowner, and a home.
That’s why you should expect to [...]

The stock-market crashes around the world are not symptoms of the disease but the cure. The “disease” is the excessive debt and leverage in the global financial system — especially in the United States, Britain, Spain and Australia. The “cure” is the reduction of the level of debt.

Some experts and politicians believe that the mark-to-market accounting rule is to blame for the financial crisis–and they want to modify it; opponents say that would cloud companies’ true financial health.

Beyond the politics of Washington, one thing seems clear to many homeowners on the verge of foreclosure, there is no significant relief in sight from the government or Wall Street.