Treasury Department

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Bottom-up Bailout: Pay Off Delinquent Mortgages
Bottom-up Bailout: Pay Off Delinquent Mortgages
OPINION

Bottom-up Bailout: Pay Off Delinquent Mortgages

Using tax money to pay delinquent mortgages would revive markets

(Newser) - Rescuing ordinary Americans—not Wall Street—should be the theory behind the government bailout, and that means paying off delinquent mortgages, say two Yale professors in the Washington Post. If that sounds unfair, it is, but it's "a small price to pay to avoid a rapid transition to a...

Fed, Treasury Fall Back on Existing 'Inadequate' Tools

With no federal deal, agencies limited to ad hoc solutions

(Newser) - With yesterday’s failure of the $700 billion bailout, the Fed and Treasury are reconsidering their options, the New York Times reports. Fearful of cutting interest rates, they're back to rescuing struggling institutions on a case by case basis, and printing money—offering $150 billion in emergency loans to banks...

Dow Falls 777 On House Vote
 Dow Falls 777 On House Vote 
MARKETS

Dow Falls 777 On House Vote

Biggest single-day drop in index's history

(Newser) - The Dow saw its biggest single-day drop ever today after the House rejected the financial bailout bill and adjourned until Thursday, MarketWatch reports. Equities and commodities were pounded equally as the Dow plunged 777.68 to close at 10,365.45 and oil fell $10.52, to $96.37 a...

Paulson's Power Would Be Unprecedented
 Paulson's Power Would Be 
 Unprecedented 
analysis

Paulson's Power Would Be Unprecedented

Some checks from Congress, but Treasury will hold the keys

(Newser) - Though its passage remains uncertain, the bailout bill would make Henry Paulson the most powerful mortgage financier in history, Peter Gosselin writes in the Los Angeles Times. Paulson got nearly everything he asked for; restrictions supposedly reining him in are little more than window dressing. Additions like the Democrats’ housing-relief...

New Compromise Close on Bailout Bill

Plan would include optional insurance-based protection

(Newser) - Washington is nearing a new compromise on a Wall Street bailout plan, the Wall Street Journal reports, this one aiming to reel in House Republicans who rebelled Thursday against the bill that had been hammered out by congressional negotiators. The new plan would incorporate the group's alternative model—using an...

Candidates Meet With Bush
 Candidates Meet With Bush 
updated

Candidates Meet With Bush

Details emerge on how money would be doled out

(Newser) - John McCain and Barack Obama met with President Bush and congressional leaders in Washington this afternoon to discuss the evolving bailout plan, the AP reports. With the candidates' help, “my hope is that we can reach an agreement very shortly,” Bush said. Key lawmakers said they had reached...

We Don't Really Need a Bailout
 We Don't Really Need a Bailout 
OPINION

We Don't Really Need a Bailout

With investment banks dead, the point of this is ... what, exactly?

(Newser) - Now that all the big investment firms are no more, why exactly do we need a bailout? Paulson’s plan involves buying assets that are illiquid, but not worthless. “But regular banks hold assets like that all the time,” writes James Galbraith in the Washington Post. “They’...

Washington Wants to Know Who Replaces Hank
Washington Wants to Know Who Replaces Hank
ANALYSIS

Washington Wants to Know Who Replaces Hank

Successor for Treasury Secretary a major question in bailout debate

(Newser) - With the Treasury Secretary looking to get $700 billion to spend on the bailout, Washington is starting to focus on who might replace Henry Paulson when a new administration takes over in January, the Post reports. Neither candidate has given in to requests for names, but speculation has centered on...

Bailout Pact Appears Near
 Bailout Pact Appears Near 

Bailout Pact Appears Near

Consensus emerges ahead of candidate meeting

(Newser) - Congressional leaders seem close to an agreement on the bailout bill, following a flurry of late-night activity, the Wall Street Journal reports. Democrats want to have all their ducks in a row before Barack Obama and John McCain meet with President Bush this afternoon, to ensure McCain gets no credit...

Cheney Fails to Rally Troops Around Bailout

GOP House meeting was 'a bloodbath', as doubters dominate

(Newser) - Dick Cheney held court on Capitol Hill yesterday, hoping to convince House Republicans to support the Treasury’s $700-billion bailout plan. But the VP's once-considerable clout in Congress has dissipated, Politico reports; Republicans emerged from the two-hour, closed-door meeting calling it “a bloodbath” and “an unmitigated disaster.”

Alabama Senator Leads GOP Charge Against Bailout

$700B bailout doesn't jibe with free-market principles, says Shelby

(Newser) - Republican Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby is proving to be one of the toughest opponents of the Treasury Department's proposed bailout of financial firms, the Wall Street Journal reports. The ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee is leading the charge against the plan by Republicans who view it as a...

Time to Punish Someone for Economic Disaster
Time to Punish Someone
for Economic Disaster
ANALYSIS

Time to Punish Someone for Economic Disaster

Bailout package should penalize those who brought down system, say experts

(Newser) - Economists mostly agree that the financial situation is so dire that a bailout is needed, but many are skeptical about the one proposed. One of the biggest problems is the lack of punitive measures against the reckless, fat-salaried financial bosses who created the mess in the first place, experts tell...

Raise Your Hand if You Want Part of the Bailout

Lobbying intense as Wall Street firms jockey to profit from rescue

(Newser) - Where there’s $700 billion of government money, there are lobbyists. Financial institutions are jockeying for their piece of the massive bailout bill that’s being rushed through Congress, the New York Times reports, with everyone from insurers to mortgage lenders looking to profit by unloading assets under the most...

Dems Set Their Own Terms for Bailout Plan

Congress wants oversight of treasury, homeowner assistance

(Newser) - As Hank Paulson did the Sunday talk shows, Democrats in the House and Senate set down their own terms for a plan to rescue the nation's financial institutions—one that would give Congress greater oversight over the treasury. Barney Frank, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, put forward his...

Can Their $700B Rescue Plan Do the Trick?
Can Their $700B Rescue
Plan Do the Trick?
ANALYSIS

Can Their $700B Rescue Plan Do the Trick?

Experts say action is needed, but doubt if it will be enough

(Newser) - Forget white and blue: Uncle Sam is all red these days after swallowing hundreds of billions in bad mortgages and coughing up billions more to save strapped businesses. As the Feds strategize a solution to the mess, experts are unsure if the plan will work and how much it’ll...

Paulson: Plan Still Leaves Taxpayers at Risk

Rescue proposal also won't save every financial institution

(Newser) - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, knee-deep in negotiations to save the floundering US finance industry, had a grim warning for Americans today: “There are no guarantees, and the taxpayer is at risk,” Paulson told Fox News Sunday, adding, “The concern I have is for the American people...

Devil's in the Details of Wall St. Bailout

Plan expected to bring controversy

(Newser) - Now that President Bush has requested his $700 billion bailout plan from Congress, work is under way on the details. The administration kept its 3-page outline simple so it could adjust to problems on the fly, the Wall Street Journal reports. But that gives Congress the opportunity to load it...

Bush Asks Congress for $700B Bailout Fund

President urges swift action, 'and the cleaner the better'

(Newser) - The Bush administration today formally asked Congress to authorize a $700 billion fund, administered by the Treasury Department, to help troubled financial institutions unload bad debt, the Washington Post reports. The figure is $200 billion higher than legislators were led to expect yesterday, and the national debt limit would be...

Bernanke, Paulson Put Fear of God Into Pols

Of meeting with officials, lawmaker says: 'We have never heard language like this'

(Newser) - Lawmakers were astounded at the possible fallout of the crisis on Wall Street outlined last night by Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the New York Times reports. “When you listened to him describe it you gulped,” New York Sen. Charles Schumer said of the...

Treasury Taps $50B to Insure Money Market Funds

As investor confidence dims, a backing from the government

(Newser) - The US Treasury moved today to temporarily insure investors against losses on money-market funds, Bloomberg reports. As much as $50 billion from the government’s Exchange Stabilization Fund will be used to back for a year funds that pay to participate in the program. Money-market funds, in which investors normally...

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