October 12, 2008 4:30:17 AM CDT
(Newser) – Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson today will urge Congress to broaden the Federal Reserve’s oversight role on Wall Street, giving it the authority to demand data from financial institutions to help prevent incidents like the Bear Stearns collapse. Any major change in regulatory authority would have to be approved by Congress, reports the Washington Post.
"Our nation has come to expect the Federal Reserve to step in to avert events that pose unacceptable systemic risk," Paulson plans to say. "We should quickly consider how to appropriately give the Fed the authority to access necessary information and the responsibility to intervene in order to protect the system, so they can carry out the role our nation has come to expect."
Source Washington Post
Oct 9, 08 11:28 AM CDT The global economy is in such chaos that it needs the equivalent of bankruptcy protection, David Ignatius writes in the Washington Post. "Bankruptcy, if properly managed, is a workout process that provides a pathway back to solvency," he argues. "Companies often reemerge from bankruptcy healthier than before; often, some assets are sold to other companies that can make better use of them." More »
Sep 22, 08 3:22 PM CDT With US markets in upheaval, the head of the watchdog Securities and Exchange Commission was preoccupied with a new technology for corporate filing, Bloomberg reports. Christopher Cox’s inaction has provoked bipartisan criticism: McCain adviser Carly Fiorina said he has been “asleep at the switch,” while Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd has ordered a probe into the drastic drop in SEC enforcement under Cox’s watch. More »
Sep 19, 08 4:18 PM CDT 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 meeting between a select group of lawmakers and the two officials. More »
Sep 13, 08 2:05 PM CDT Washington and Wall Street continued talks today aimed at solving the Lehman Brothers crisis as early as tonight, the Wall Street Journal reports. Federal Reserve officials still refuse to approve a bailout like the one that enabled JP Morgan to acquire Bear Stearns this summer—but possible buyers like Bank of America and Barclays are balking at Lehman's bad assets, which have so far hindered a deal. More »
Sep 9, 08 5:45 PM CDT Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson saved Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but now he may have to worry about saving his own job: One Republican senator called his policies socialist and recommended that he and Fed chief Ben Bernanke resign, Bloomberg reports. “They have taken the free market out of the free market,” said Jim Bunning of Kentucky. More »
Federal Reserve • Henry Paulson • Ben Bernanke • Bear Stearns • oversight • Federal Reserve Bank of New York
