OPINION
Treasury trying to consolidate banking industry, not fix credit
New York Times Oct 25, 08 12:54 PM CDT
(Newser)
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When the Treasury was pushing its $700 billion bailout, it assured us that once banks had cash, they’d start lending. “I don’t know about you,” writes Joe Nocera in the New York Times , “but I’m starting to feel as if we’ve been sold a bill of goods.” On a recent JP Morgan conference call, Nocera heard an executive say there were no plans to use its $25 billion infusion to lend more.
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Treasury secretary defends his actions in Times sit-down
New York Times Oct 23, 08 7:47 AM CDT
(Newser)
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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.
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Plan would give banks an incentive to rework troubled mortgages
Wall Street Journal Oct 23, 08 6:33 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages would get help from the federal government under a $40 billion plan FDIC Chair Sheila Bair is expected to unveil today, reports the Wall Street Journal . Bair’s initiative, which would offer banks financial incentives to rework troubled mortgages into more affordable ones, is one of several ideas gaining traction in Washington to attack the epidemic of foreclosures that triggered the financial crisis.
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OPINION
New York Times Oct 21, 08 10:00 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Wall Street may be cheering for the bailout, but Andrew Ross Sorkin knows what the banks are really doing with our $250 billion: “They have stuffed it under their mattresses like the rest of us,” he writes in the New York Times . Consumers will find it almost as hard to get a loan this week as last, and that won’t change until the economy actually recovers.
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Paulson seeks to reshape banking with new capital
New York Times Oct 21, 08 9:23 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Treasury's $250 billion cash infusion into financial institutions is meant to increase liquidity and get banks to start lending to each other again, but it might have another effect: accelerating mergers. The New York Times reports that the government's unprecedented recapitalization is also meant to give bigger banks the wherewithal to gobble up smaller, more troubled ones. "Treasury doesn’t want to prop up weak banks," one source said. “One purpose of this plan is to drive consolidation.”
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Regulator clashes with Paulson, Bernanke over relief for lenders
Wall Street Journal Oct 16, 08 9:25 AM CDT
(Newser)
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The FDIC chief is blasting the White House and Congress for focusing the $700 billion bailout on financial institutions and not giving homeowners facing foreclosure more help, reports the Wall Street Journal. Sheila Bair, a Bush appointee, says the government’s insistence that homeowners not profit from its help—while appearing unconcerned about institutional profiteering—has been “a frustration.”
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In brief meeting, Paulson gave banks a 'take it or take it' deal
New York Times Oct 15, 08 7:47 AM CDT
(Newser)
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When the CEOs of America's 9 largest banks arrived at the Treasury at 3pm Monday afternoon, they each received a draft one-page statement promising to sell shares to the government. By 6:30 they'd all signed them. The New York Times reconstructs the meeting, during which Henry Paulson wore down bankers' fears and convinced them that the recapitalization wasn't just a good move, it was inevitable.
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OPINION
Finance could take steps to mend the crisis of confidence
Washington Post Oct 14, 08 12:53 PM CDT
(Newser)
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It’s easy to criticize Hank Paulson, writes Steven Pearlstein for the Washington Post —for not predicting the depth and breadth of the crisis as subprime mortgages went sour a year ago, for letting Lehman Brothers fail, or for taking his lead from the UK this weekend. But Paulson and others in the government have shown admirable leadership—"Wall Street, by contrast, has served up a nothing sandwich."
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UPDATED
Associated Press Oct 14, 08 7:43 AM CDT
(AP)
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President Bush this morning confirmed the government's $250 billion plan to buy shares in banks, in the latest move to calm the turmoil in the financial markets and stave off a deep recession. Speaking from the Rose Garden after an early-morning meeting with economic advisers, Bush said the move will help restore confidence and "return our economy to the path of growth and prosperity."
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$250B bailout needed to restore faith, keep capital at home
New York Times Oct 14, 08 1:00 AM CDT
(Newser)
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The $250 billion plan to guarantee new bank debt and unlimited bank deposits in certain accounts isn’t just an option, Treasury Secretary Paulson told the chiefs of nine banks yesterday; it’s for the good of the country. The plan, the country’s response to similar European banking actions, is engineered to quash feats that US banks will default and keep capital from flowing overseas to safer banks, the New York Times reports.
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Paulson will match Europe's effort by spending $250B
on stock in 9 banks
Wall Street Journal Oct 13, 08 5:40 PM CDT
(Newser)
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The US version of Europe's new financial bailout plans is coming tomorrow, the Wall Street Journal reports. In the wake of a rollout by European nations today, and soaring stock markets worldwide, Washington will do what it dissed only weeks ago: snap up billions in bank equity stakes. The FDIC will also raise insurance above $250,000 on some bank accounts and backstop bank-issued debt.
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Aid to developing nations must be maintained, bank president warns
Associated Press Oct 13, 08 5:18 AM CDT
(Newser)
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The head of the World Bank cautioned yesterday that the economic crisis could hit developing countries the hardest, and pledged the bank’s support in helping those nations protect their poor, reports AP. Bank president Robert Zoellick warned that aid to impoverished regions must continue to flow even as the US and Europe struggle to bail out their own economies.
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