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Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner got an earful last week from House Democrats wary of the White House proposal to pay for government rescues of Wall Street firms by taxing healthy competitors only after Washington steps in. The critics want companies to pre-pay instead into a kind of sitting insurance fund to be used for the [...]

Testifying before House lawmakers yesterday, Sheila Bair, head of  the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, endorsed much of the controversial proposal to grant the White House new powers to take over Wall Street investment firms when their failure threatens the larger financial system.
A timely, orderly resolution process that could be applied to both banks and non-bank [...]

CompuCredit, an Atlanta subprime lender that specializes in high-rate credit cards, payday loans, auto financing and debt collection, is part of the country’s leading coalition on financial literacy.

The Washington Post, this morning:
Senior administration officials are considering the creation of a single agency to regulate the banking industry, replacing a patchwork of agencies that failed to prevent banks from falling into the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, sources said.
Bloomberg, today:
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank ruled out creating a single [...]

The outrage over AIG bonuses is dying down, but it is only being replaced by a blame game. According to critics, President Obama went too far in his populist pronouncements against banks, and his administration, led by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, is bungling the rescue effort. Banking executives have piled on, telling The Washington Post [...]

Did you ever do something that, with the benefit of  hindsight, seemed really, really stupid and you wondered what exactly you were thinking at the time?
Imagine how the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation must feel these days. The same agency that now says it needs to borrow $500 billion in emergency funds to take over failed [...]

It’s no secret that some powerful Democrats are none too pleased that the Bush administration has refused to use the $700 billion Wall Street rescue to help struggling homeowners facing foreclosure. Yesterday, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) floated a possible remedy, suggesting that any Detroit bailout coming down the pipe might also [...]

Franklin Roosevelt knew the Great Depression offered an opportunity to do more than rescue a sick economy. It was a unique chance to pursue a higher purpose for government — to make life less risky for future generations. If Roosevelt is the standard, Obama will be judged not just on how he deals with the economic crisis, but on how he uses it.

The plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to streamline mortgage modifications for troubled homeowners has already come in for some harsh criticism. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chairwoman Sheila Bair, in particular, has been outspoken in her opposition.
That’s important, because Bair is the leading proponent of massive restructurings of mortgages. She wants Treasury to move [...]

Once again, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. shut down a bank late Friday afternoon, meaning that news was mostly missed until today. It’s Alpharatta, Ga.-based Alpha Bank and Trust, a small community banking outfit, Housing Wire reports. It’s the 16th bank failure so far this year.
The reality that banks are closing down — and [...]