Can Their $700B Rescue Plan Do the Trick?

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 and the economy”—and Wall Street isn’t totally safe either. More»

35-year-old to keep seat warm until Jan.

(NEWSER) - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will name former Goldman Sachs banker Neel Kashkari to oversee the $700 billion bailout fund approved last week, reports the Wall Street Journal. The appointment is an interim one for Kashkari, 35, currently an assistant Treasury secretary; a new administration would almost certainly appoint its own official to the post in January. More»

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 the New York Times. More»

(NEWSER) - Anybody seen $700 billion? The government watchdogs charged with overseeing TARP spending don't seem able to answer even basic questions about where the money went, Chris Adams writes at McClatchy. A special inspector general, a congressional panel, and eight other inspectors general are supposed to be keeping track of the funds, but they haven't been given the tools to do the job properly, Adams writes. More»

Ex-Goldman exec coddled firm as Treasury sec, critics say

(NEWSER) - As a former Goldman Sachs exec, Henry Paulson vowed to avoid any potential conflicts of interest when he was appointed President Bush’s Treasury secretary. But seven months after he left office, the nagging questions surrounding Paulson’s tumultuous term in office suggest he may not have succeeded, Gretchen Morgenson and Don Van Natta Jr write in the New York Times. Critics remain suspicious of Paulson’s role in engineering a bailout for Goldman creditor AIG and dozens of conversations with his successor at Goldman. More»