The Washington Independent

Posts Tagged credit crisis

New at TWI: Federal Home Loan Banks Loaned Billions to Prop Up Risky Lenders

By | 02.09.09 | 9:30 am

The Atlanta Federal Home Loan Bank loaned $51.5 billion to Countrywide — a mortgage lender at the heart of the subprime crisis — in 2007. Washington Mutual, which went on to become the largest failed bank in American history, received $31 billion in loans from the San Francisco FHLB. IndyMac, More…

Credit Crisis Hits Poorer Nations Harder As They Barter for Food

By | 01.27.09 | 7:14 am

Thousands of layoffs announced Monday illustrate the pain caused by the credit crisis here in the United States. But as the Financial Times reports, a credit crisis hits less prosperous nations much harder. From Malaysia to Morocco, the crisis, combined with high food prices, has forced some countries More…

Troubled Banks Get a Closer Look

By | 01.23.09 | 9:54 am

As our story pointed out Thursday, investors are worried about a lot of banks lately — including the Federal Home Loan Banks, the 12 regional institutions that are a crucial source of low-cost mortgage money to many other banks.

For years, the obscure banks had a reputation for poor More…

For Obama, No Time to Wait on the Economy

By | 11.06.08 | 9:10 am

President-elect Barack Obama’s choices for top positions in his new administration, such as his chief of staff, are drawing all the attention lately. But in the financial world, there’s a growing call for him to do more than just pick new personnel. There’s also a belief that the credit More…

Spreading the Wealth

By | 10.27.08 | 1:15 pm

LEESBURG, Va. — As the Palin campaign rolled through this exurban neighborhood, members of the traveling press were surprised when the bus lurched to a stop.

We were in a neighborhood of spacious two-story homes with two- and three-car garages. While built in the past five to 10 years, the More…

The Great Unwind

By | 10.10.08 | 6:00 am

In “The Arabian Nights,” the beautiful princess Scheherazade buys one day of life at a time by recounting fantastic fables that entrance the king, who has condemned her to die. Investors and traders are currently telling each other fairy tales to buy one day at a time to stave off More…

Subprime RIP

By | 10.02.08 | 8:51 am

Mortgage Insider tallies up the carnage among subprime lenders since the foreclosure crisis began — and it’s grim:

The list of major subprime lenders for 2006 and 2007 resembles the casualty roster from the Battle of Verdun in World War I. Only difference: way fewer walking wounded this time.

More…

The Decade of Moral Hazard is Over

By | 09.16.08 | 10:20 am

If you feel like you’re trying to muddle through absorbing and understanding what happened on Wall Street, and why we are in the mess we’re in, this short video from the Financial Times might help clear things up.

Investment editor John Authers traces many of today’s problems back to More…