Treasury Department

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We Don't Really Need a Bailout
 We Don't Really Need a Bailout 
OPINION
Sep 25, 2008 1:22 PM CDT

We Don't Really Need a Bailout

With investment banks dead, the point of this is ... what, exactly?

(Newser) - Now that all the big investment firms are no more, why exactly do we need a bailout? Paulson’s plan involves buying assets that are illiquid, but not worthless. “But regular banks hold assets like that all the time,” writes James Galbraith in the Washington Post. “They’...

Washington Wants to Know Who Replaces Hank
Washington Wants to Know Who Replaces Hank
ANALYSIS
Sep 25, 2008 11:43 AM CDT

Washington Wants to Know Who Replaces Hank

Successor for Treasury Secretary a major question in bailout debate

(Newser) - With the Treasury Secretary looking to get $700 billion to spend on the bailout, Washington is starting to focus on who might replace Henry Paulson when a new administration takes over in January, the Post reports. Neither candidate has given in to requests for names, but speculation has centered on...

Bailout Pact Appears Near
 Bailout Pact Appears Near 
Sep 25, 2008 10:52 AM CDT

Bailout Pact Appears Near

Consensus emerges ahead of candidate meeting

(Newser) - Congressional leaders seem close to an agreement on the bailout bill, following a flurry of late-night activity, the Wall Street Journal reports. Democrats want to have all their ducks in a row before Barack Obama and John McCain meet with President Bush this afternoon, to ensure McCain gets no credit...

Cheney Fails to Rally Troops Around Bailout

GOP House meeting was 'a bloodbath', as doubters dominate

(Newser) - Dick Cheney held court on Capitol Hill yesterday, hoping to convince House Republicans to support the Treasury’s $700-billion bailout plan. But the VP's once-considerable clout in Congress has dissipated, Politico reports; Republicans emerged from the two-hour, closed-door meeting calling it “a bloodbath” and “an unmitigated disaster.”

Alabama Senator Leads GOP Charge Against Bailout

$700B bailout doesn't jibe with free-market principles, says Shelby

(Newser) - Republican Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby is proving to be one of the toughest opponents of the Treasury Department's proposed bailout of financial firms, the Wall Street Journal reports. The ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee is leading the charge against the plan by Republicans who view it as a...

Time to Punish Someone for Economic Disaster
Time to Punish Someone
for Economic Disaster
ANALYSIS
Sep 23, 2008 2:25 AM CDT

Time to Punish Someone for Economic Disaster

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...

Raise Your Hand if You Want Part of the Bailout

Lobbying intense as Wall Street firms jockey to profit from rescue

(Newser) - Where there’s $700 billion of government money, there are lobbyists. Financial institutions are jockeying for their piece of the massive bailout bill that’s being rushed through Congress, the New York Times reports, with everyone from insurers to mortgage lenders looking to profit by unloading assets under the most...

Dems Set Their Own Terms for Bailout Plan

Congress wants oversight of treasury, homeowner assistance

(Newser) - As Hank Paulson did the Sunday talk shows, Democrats in the House and Senate set down their own terms for a plan to rescue the nation's financial institutions—one that would give Congress greater oversight over the treasury. Barney Frank, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, put forward his...

Can Their $700B Rescue Plan Do the Trick?
Can Their $700B Rescue
Plan Do the Trick?
ANALYSIS
Sep 21, 2008 1:49 PM CDT

Can Their $700B Rescue Plan Do the Trick?

Experts say action is needed, but doubt if it will be enough

(Newser) - Forget white and blue: Uncle Sam is all red these days after swallowing hundreds of billions in bad mortgages and coughing up billions more to save strapped businesses. As the Feds strategize a solution to the mess, experts are unsure if the plan will work and how much it’ll...

Paulson: Plan Still Leaves Taxpayers at Risk

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...

Devil's in the Details of Wall St. Bailout

Plan expected to bring controversy

(Newser) - Now that President Bush has requested his $700 billion bailout plan from Congress, work is under way on the details. The administration kept its 3-page outline simple so it could adjust to problems on the fly, the Wall Street Journal reports. But that gives Congress the opportunity to load it...

Bush Asks Congress for $700B Bailout Fund

President urges swift action, 'and the cleaner the better'

(Newser) - The Bush administration today formally asked Congress to authorize a $700 billion fund, administered by the Treasury Department, to help troubled financial institutions unload bad debt, the Washington Post reports. The figure is $200 billion higher than legislators were led to expect yesterday, and the national debt limit would be...

Bernanke, Paulson Put Fear of God Into Pols

Of meeting with officials, lawmaker says: 'We have never heard language like this'

(Newser) - Lawmakers were astounded at the possible fallout of the crisis on Wall Street outlined last night by Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the New York Times reports. “When you listened to him describe it you gulped,” New York Sen. Charles Schumer said of the...

Treasury Taps $50B to Insure Money Market Funds

As investor confidence dims, a backing from the government

(Newser) - The US Treasury moved today to temporarily insure investors against losses on money-market funds, Bloomberg reports. As much as $50 billion from the government’s Exchange Stabilization Fund will be used to back for a year funds that pay to participate in the program. Money-market funds, in which investors normally...

Paulson's New Plan: Buy Bad Wall Street Debt

Treasury chief pushes creation of agency; news lifts markets

(Newser) - The US government is considering the creation of a federal institution that would buy up bad debt from struggling Wall Street concerns, CNBC reports. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is reportedly pushing the proposal around Washington. By relieving financial institutions of toxic debt, they could return to lending money as per...

Wall St. Groans as Lehman Deal Takes Shape

Divided sale may spark ripple of pain through financial industry

(Newser) - A possible deal to salvage Lehman Brothers took shape today but cast a dark mood over Wall Street, the Wall Street Journal reports. Washington refused to save the ailing bank, sparking a plan for either Barclay's or Bank of America to buy "good" Lehman assets while other banks propped...

Senator: Fire 'Socialist' Paulson
Senator: Fire 'Socialist' Paulson
Sep 9, 2008 5:45 PM CDT

Senator: Fire 'Socialist' Paulson

Ky.'s Bunning appears to have problem with Fannie/Freddie move

(Newser) - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson saved Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but now he may have to worry about saving his own job: One Republican senator called his policies socialist and recommended that he and Fed chief Ben Bernanke resign, Bloomberg reports. “They have taken the free market out of...

Fannie/Freddie Rescue Not Radical Enough
Fannie/Freddie Rescue Not Radical Enough
OPINION
Sep 9, 2008 11:33 AM CDT

Fannie/Freddie Rescue Not Radical Enough

Feds must return GSEs to original purpose of providing liquidity

(Newser) - The Treasury’s rescue plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may be “superbly crafted,” Steven Rattner writes in the Washington Post, but it won’t solve the government-sponsored entities’ problems. Continuing as private-sector enterprises is a setup that “simply doesn’t work.” The GSEs had...

In Times of Crisis, Paulson's the 'Decider'
In Times of Crisis, Paulson's the 'Decider'
ANALYSIS
Sep 9, 2008 6:12 AM CDT

In Times of Crisis, Paulson's the 'Decider'

Fannie-Freddie bailout shows Treasury sec enjoys a free hand

(Newser) - Last week, a small group met in the Oval Office to discuss the impending takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But while President Bush convened the meeting, there was no mistaking who was running the show: Hank Paulson, who had first floated public ownership and who oversaw every aspect...

Feds Outline Fannie, Freddie Bailout

Gov't will step in as conservator; Treasury will buy preferred stock

(Newser) - Citing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as "critical to turning the corner on housing," Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson this morning announced a bailout of the beleaguered mortgage companies that includes his agency purchasing preferred stock, while the Federal Housing Finance Agency will step in as conservator. Additionally, Treasury...

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