I’ve been reading the Securities and Exchange Commission’s civil charges of Goldman Sachs and one of its vice presidents carefully. It’s a complicated case dealing with complicated financial instruments, but I think there is a handy analogy to explain it in layman’s terms.
Let’s say that you are More…
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that amid news that a bid to extend a lifeline to the Big Three automakers failed in the Senate last night, the White House is considering allowing some of the $700 billion allocated for the Wall Street bailout to save the industry. A More…
Ever wonder why Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson seems to be giving away the store to Wall Street these days, granting insurance giant AIG a second bailout and allowing American Express to pretend it’s a bank so it can get government money, too?
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…
As the Wall Street bailout program morphs from one helping banks to one benefiting insurers and (perhaps) automakers, the Bush administration is having a hard time explaining what rules are dictating the process — and where it’ll draw lines of eligibility.
It’s an unlikely spot for a conservative White More…
The House Financial Services Committee, on Sept. 24, grilled Treasury Sec. Henry Paulson Jr. about the $700-billion financial bailout plan. The high-profile hearing signaled that lawmakers were not going to pass just any rescue bill before recessing to campaign.
But that same day, More…
Three sound-bites led to the passage of the biggest bailout in world history. The first was that the bailout is “not just for the fat cats” on Wall Street. This, in turn, is because in this crisis “Wall Street and Main Street are joined at the hip.” Finally, anybody who More…
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 More…
Amid the clamor over the crisis on Wall Street, the U.S. Treasury’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Rescue Program, or “TARP,” bill and the evolving collapse of the global banking system, little attention has been paid to the extraordinary credit extensions at the Federal Reserve. But these are now without parallel More…
In an interview with ABC’s Charlie Gibson Thursday, Sen. John McCain said his “Homeownership Resurgence Plan” to allow the federal government to buy up bad debt from banks and allow people to refinance mortgages they can no longer pay, may require $300 billion in “new money.”
New More…
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