Bailout and Financial Crisis News

In order to implode and cost taxpayers $180 billion, AIG first had to make–and lose–positively massive market bets with other Wall Street firms.  It will come as a surprise to no one that the firm on the other side of many of those lost bets was Goldman Sachs. In fact, as Gretchen Morgenson and Louise Story reveal [...]

Many Wall Street firms have had a great year spending tax payer cash and making billions as a result. So why wouldn’t they bank that money for a rainy day like Spetember 2008? Because they are handing out massive bonuses to the CEO’s that made it all tick in 2009, and don’t expect them to hold back [...]

Like Nemo, I genuinely admire Paul Volcker.  Volcker is a brilliant man of unassailable character.  He has championed financial reform loudly, stubbornly, and with panache.  (“I may not live to see the next crisis, but my spirit will haunt you.”)  Volcker is the type of person who will draw you back in when your frustration with [...]

President Obama’s milquetoast, watered-down, belated plan to regulate the banking industry was inexplicably labeled “too grande” by Senate Banking Chairman Christopher Dodd. The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee warned on Tuesday that the Obama administration’s new proposals to rein in Wall Street firms ran the risk of derailing months of delicate negotiations over overhauling financial [...]

Not so fast, bankers. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker will try to dispel some of the recent complaints made by Wall Street executives in his testimony to the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday. Ever since President Barack Obama proposed last month limiting the ability of commercial banks to engage in “proprietary trading,” bankers have complained that the [...]

Tim Geithner is back on top in the Obama administration, and his deputies are making it clear that the “Volcker Rule” won’t seriously overturn the way business is done on Wall Street. Reuters reports: Some institutions will be able to avoid facing the Volcker rule by shedding their insured deposits, according to U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal [...]

In with a bang, out with a whimper. And so it goes for a series of emergency lending programs hatched by the Federal Reserve over the course of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Monday saw the end of initiatives aimed at supporting various parts of the commercial-paper market, where companies get short-term financing, [...]

Dr. Peter T Treadway is an independent consultant and money manager and Adjunct Professor in Asia. He is currently is principal of Historical Analytics, a consulting and investment management. He pens a monthly letter (The Dismal Optimist) for clients. He is also Chief Economist for C T RISKS, a new Hong Kong company that will [...]

Wow, that is some mad feedback on such a short post. Insane! Quite a few takeaways from all the responses: • The people have spoken: Full RSS Feeds stay! • Open threads/linkfests are worth doing more regularly, just so as to give all of the off topic ideas a safe home of their own; • I don’t know if [...]

A few things worth knowing about Paul Volcker: He served as Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1987, appointed by Carter and re-appointed by Reagan. He comes from a generation when the phrase “public servant” could still be used without irony. He is 6′7″ tall and 82 years old. He took his wife fly fishing for their [...]

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