Henry Paulson

Just a few weeks after Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) requested information from Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner about White House plans to sidestep executive pay limits for bailed out firms (information that still hasn’t been provided), Towns is asking Geithner about his role in Bank of America’s reportedly shady acquisition of Merrill Lynch in December.
Yesterday, the [...]

As Weigel pointed out earlier, the GOP appears poised to make a strategy of blaming Democrats — notably Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (Conn.) — for allowing the AIG bonuses that have become so controversial this week.
We pointed out a few reasons earlier today why Dodd doesn’t bear the blame (at least no more [...]

When Senate Republicans last week blocked Democrats’ efforts to bail out General Motors and Chrysler, which say they’re near bankruptcy, the White House was quick to swoop in to announce that it would lend the help that Congress didn’t.
Aside from the comedy surrounding that development (the Bush administration’s original refusal to help the automakers was [...]

It’s not only Democrats who want some answers about the Treasury Dept.’s Wall Street bailout strategy. House GOP leaders are also wondering where all those taxpayer dollars are going — and what good they’re doing.
In a Dec. 3 letter to Treasury Sec. Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, the Republicans questioned [...]

Wall Street sure does like the thought of Tim Geithner running the Treasury Dept. next year. (The Dow surged 494 points Friday as the news leaked, and 397 yesterday as the appointment was officially announced.) But, like Sarah Palin before him, the relatively obscure Geithner — who’s headed New York’s Federal Reserve Bank for the [...]

More from the loquacious Barney Frank, whose patience with Treasury Sec. Henry M. Paulson Jr. appears to be growing thin after the White House yesterday chose to bail out Citigroup, but has still done nothing for struggling homeowners. That decision, Frank said in a statement today…

Democratic congressional leaders are increasingly unhappy with how the $700 billion rescue plan is being implemented. They want banks to make more loans to consumers and businesses, not continue to pay dividends to shareholders. A storm of new regulations may be coming.

The House Financial Services Committee chairman applauds recent moves by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and banks to modify mortgages and keep borrowers in their homes. But companies that service loans aren’t doing enough, he says, and that needs to change.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee just spent a five-hour hearing detailing how American International Group gave millions in compensation to executives even as the world’s largest insurance company was posting huge losses.
AIG executives even spent $443,000 for a weeklong retreat at the St. Regis Resort at Monarch Beach, Calif. after the Treasury Dept. [...]

The House oversight committee has spent the day unloading on Lehman Bros. CEO Richard Fuld — his $480 million in compensation over the past eight years, his investment bank’s unprecedented leveraging of mortgage assets, his misleading of Lehman shareholders up to the day the company declared bankruptcy and the fate of 25,000 Lehman employees.
Fuld has [...]