For Buffett, Goldman Deal Was a Snap

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• Feds Let Lehman Fail—Then Loaned It $138B Anyway

  Dec 16, 08 9:20 AM CST
  After refusing to bail out Lehman Brothers, the Federal Reserve funneled $87 billion to a subsidiary through JPMorgan Chase on Sept. 15, then another $51 billion the next day. The feds say they aimed to “facilitate an orderly wind-down” of Lehman’s broker-dealer operations, Andrew Ross Sorkin writes in the New York Times, but their changing explanations, and other issues, continue to muddy the waters. More »

• Big Players Reel in Charity Spending

  Nov 25, 08 12:14 PM CST
  Charities used to getting much of their money from major corporations and private foundations are feeling the economic downturn, the Wall Street Journal reports. Bill Gates’ foundation plans to give fewer grants next year, and other large donors are honoring existing pledges but refusing to make new ones. “You can’t give what you haven’t got,” said AIG’s former CEO, a major donor.
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• CEOs Took Billions Off the Table Before Bust

  Nov 20, 08 8:55 AM CST
  Investors have lost some $9 trillion since last year’s stock market peak, but at the center of the maelstrom, CEOs of some of the worst-performing companies are sitting pretty. Fifteen financial services and homebuilding CEOs have accumulated more than $100 million each in the past 5 years in cash compensation and stock sales, the Wall Street Journal reports. That includes the heads of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, and other nearly bankrupt or deeply damaged companies. More »

• Banks Owe Execs Billions— in Previous Years' Pay

  Oct 31, 08 8:00 AM CDT
  The financial titans receiving huge portions of federal bailout cash are sitting on some massive IOUs, but they aren’t to taxpayers or shareholders—the banks owe billions to their own executives for previous years' pay and pensions. Under the rules of the bailout, they can be paid with taxpayer dollars. At some firms, executives’ past pay dwarfs what the banks owe in pensions to their entire workforces, the Wall Street Journal reports.
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• Paulson: I'd Do It All Again

  Oct 23, 08 7:47 AM CDT
  Does Henry Paulson have any regrets about his widely-panned handling of the financial crisis? “I could have seen the subprime problem coming earlier,” he allows, before quickly adding, “I’m not saying I would have done anything differently.” Critics see things differently, of course, so Paulson sat down with the New York Times to defend his actions, including allowing Lehman Bros. to fail and pushing the original controversial bailout. More »