Team Obama Mulls 2-Part Bank Bailout

Administration eyes creation of private funds to suck up toxic debt

(NEWSER) - The Obama administration is considering creating multiple investment funds to buy up the toxic debts at the heart of the financial crisis, insiders tell the Wall Street Journal. No fixed structure has been agreed upon, but under one leading plan the funds would be administered by private investment managers who agree to add private capital to the government's bailout money. More»

But Wall Street bailout has made it a dirty word, writes economist

(NEWSER) - Pundits can't help but ask whether the winter's fiscal stimulus has failed, and for Joseph Stiglitz it has—because the Obama administration made "political compromises that caused it to be less effective than it could have been." For the Nobel Prize-winning economist, there is no option but a second stimulus to stand in for dampened customer demand. "Not preparing for a second stimulus now risks a weaker economy," he writes: "more bankruptcies and home foreclosures and higher unemployment." More»

Treasury's new idea would allow private investors to profit from bailouts

(NEWSER) - Responding to charges the bank bailout privatizes profits while socializing losses, the Obama administration is exploring creating mutual-fund-type instruments that would allow private citizens to invest in toxic assets. The bailout funds, akin to war bonds, would allow the taxpayers who funded the bailout to profit along with Wall Street, the New York Times reports. "It’s giving the guy on Main Street an equal seat at the table next to the big guys," said a money manager. More»

Figure makes a mockery of government's 'populist image': blogger

(NEWSER) - The new CEO of AIG is bringing home $7 million a year to restore the bailed-out firm to health, Bloomberg reports. Robert Benmosche will receive $3 million in cash and $4 million in common stock, a regulatory filing notes. “The cash component had to be enough to attract a very strong candidate and give that person enough incentive to make a change,” says an expert. More»

(NEWSER) - President Obama's top economist is confident that swift action by the administration averted disaster, ABC News reports. “We were at the brink of catastrophe at the beginning of the year,” Larry Summers says, “but we have walked some substantial distance back from the abyss.” Summers credits the recovery to the two-tiered plan that moved quickly to stabilize the financial system while simultaneously preparing for future growth. More»