bear stearns

Another Job for Washington

Congress and the president rushed to rescue the financial system with a $700-billion bailout. Now they need to turn their attention to the housing front, where foreclosures continue to mount. One proposed solution: modify the terms of existing mortgages.

The Big Guns Are Out

President George W. Bush, the Treasury Dept., the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. are all out in force today, as they should be. You own a piece of some of our biggest banks today.
Bush went first, explaining to the American people that Washington will invest $250 billion in the nation’s banks. The [...]

Who Benefits From the Bailout?

So far it looks like shareholders, employees and, of course, taxpayers are the big losers in the unprecedented Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac government bailout just announced over the weekend.
But some people are going to come out of this mess just fine, The New York Times says. And guess who that might be?
Departing chief executives [...]