Bailout and Financial Crisis News

The Pentagon is wasting no time in modifying its forces to meet the needs of a more specialized and commando-based military. The Washington Post reports the Pentagon is fast-tracking the conversion of the 1960s warship USS Ponce to use as a "commando mothership" base for special forces teams in the Middle East. The re-christened Ponce will hold small Combat Rubber Raiding Craft [...]

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece and its private creditors are very close to a deal that will significantly reduce the country's debt and give it more time to repay the rest of what it owes. After three hours of talks with Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos on Saturday, creditor representatives Charles Dallara [...]

The lack of criminal prosecution for what may have caused the financial crisis has been a source of constant frustration for many who have suffered as a result. But that may change soon. Earlier this week, President Barack Obama announced during his State of the Union office that he will be creating a special unit to investigate [...]

Hoisted from Comments: Robert Waldmann: More On Principal Reduction: A New Initiative From the White House That Should Help Clear the Path: Good move. DeMarco can block things so it is necessary to give him what he demands. But his view is odd. I think that Berstein is right that he demands “some way to mitigate [...]

Earlier: • Summary for Week Ending January 27th This will be a very busy week for economic releases. The key report is the January employment report to be released on Friday, Feb 3rd. Other key reports include the Case-Shiller house price index on Tuesday, the ISM manufacturing index on Wednesday, vehicle sales on Wednesday, and the [...]

“Things in the U.S. aren’t nearly as bad now as they were back in 2008 and early 2009, but don’t try and tell the retail investor that. They’re truly spooked.” -Justin Walters, co-founder of Bespoke Investment Group. > Here we are 12 years into a secular bear market, and the concern amongst investors is [...]

Based on filings with the SEC, Goldman Sachs’ CEO Lloyd Blankfein received 24,249 shares currently valued at $2.69 million based on Friday’s closing price og $111. The shares are part of equity compensation awarded prior to 2011. The Wall Street Journal notes that the full award was 45,497 shares, but 21,248 of them were sold at a [...]

JB: More On Principal Reduction: A New Initiative From the White House That Should Help Clear the Path: As I wrote the other day, reducing principal on homeowners with underwater mortgages is one important way to help them avoid foreclosure and help the economy get better faster.  It’s not for everyone—some homeowners simply bit off too [...]

The 2012 election will revolve around the economy, and somehow Obama will have to make the case that he should be re-elected with GDP growing below historical trend, and unemployment above 8 percent. James Pethokoukis of the American Enterprise Institute has been doing a lot of work comparing the Obama recovery to the Reagan recovery, pointing [...]

Paul Krugman: Austerity Memories: A further thought on the observation that Britain’s slump has now gone on longer than the slump in the 1930s: it’s worth remembering the rapturous reception the Cameron austerity program received here, not just from the right, but from centrists. Here’s David Broder: Cameron and his partners in the coalition have pushed ahead [...]

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