Treasury Unveils $1T Plan to Clean Up Toxic Assets

Treasury sec lays out $1T plan in op-ed

(NEWSER) - Tim Geithner caps a weekend of lobbying for the administration's $1 trillion Public-Private Investment Program in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, arguing that "the financial system as a whole is still working against a recovery." For the Treasury secretary, all the previous measures will fail to work without this one, since "while this crisis was caused by banks taking too much risk, the danger now is that they will take too little." More»

(NEWSER) - The heat is apparently getting to Tim Geithner. At a meeting last week with high-level financial regulators, the treasury secretary indulged in a potty-mouthed diatribe about delays in the administration's highly touted plan to overhaul the regulatory system, declaring, "enough is enough," the Wall Street Journal reports. Attendees included Ben Bernanke, FDIC chair Sheila Bair, and SEC chair Mary Schapiro. More»

After decades of deference, legislators turn on central bank

(NEWSER) - Tim Geithner testified before the Senate Banking Committee yesterday, but as the Washington Post reports, it's not the Treasury but the Fed whose growing powers most worry legislators. Republicans and Democrats are both venting that Ben Bernanke's office did little to stop the excesses of the boom years, only to release $1 trillion to shore up giants like Bear Stearns and AIG. Sen. Richard Shelby told Geithner that the administration's proposal "represents a grossly inflated view of the Fed’s expertise," notes Politico. More»

New agency would replace hodgepodge of regulators blamed for financial crisis

(NEWSER) - The Obama administration is working on plans to create a single agency to do the work of the mishmash of regulators who failed to see the financial crisis coming, the Wall Street Journal reports. The new agency, which may be proposed to Congress next month, would strip powers from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Federal Reserve. The Fed would gain new powers to guard against systemic risks. More»

Nobelist Stiglitz blasts Obama adminstration for 'perverse' program

(NEWSER) - The Obama administration's massive public-private investment plan is good news for banks, good news for investors—and bad news for the taxpayer, writes Joseph Stiglitz. In an op-ed for the New York Times, the Nobel Prize-winning economist accuses the Treasury of "replicating the flawed system" that caused this crisis, and says that the plan is "far worse than nationalization: it is ersatz capitalism, the privatizing of gains and the socializing of losses." More»