Up until recently, the Fed had a good reason not to cut interest rates. Inflation might catch hold of the economy and undercut the purchasing power of individuals and corporations alike. Inflation does not…
With the Congressional rejection of the Treasury bailout package lending from banks to small businesses has ground to a halt. According to Forbes,"The Discover Small Business Watch index of economic confidence slipped to 74.6,…
Now that the Congress has voted against the Treasury bailout and the Dow has dropped700 points, the important question is whether they system can save itself before the market moves toward 9,000. That would…
It appears that a US-led bailout package may only be part of an effort to calm market fears. The Federal Reserve has announced a massive coordinated liquidity package to provide U.S. dollar liquidity. The…
Nouriel Roubini, economist and dark knight of the current crisis, today savaged the Paulson bailout in an article posted at his website. Among his points: "purchasing toxic/illiquid assets of the financial system is not…
The attention of the markets is focused in the wrong direction. The Treasury will probably get its $700 billion bailout bill. A number of banks and other financial firms will have their balance sheets…
Two European financial firms fell apart during the last 24 hours. The U.K. government said that mortgage bank Bradford & Bingley is being nationalized after investors and lenders lost confidence in the group. B&B’s…
The Fed has been loaning banks and money managers an average of $188 billion a day over the last week. That is four times what the sum averaged a week earlier. Absent a bailout…
Congress is nearly done pulling together terms for a $700 billion bailout of the nation’s banks. It will keep a hand on the purse strings. At first, Treasury will get $250 billion. After that…
Anyone hoping for backdated economic data relief today may have to turn to their local weatherman for good news. There were dismal reports on new home sales, weekly jobless claims, and in durable goods. …
Hedge funds are concerned that the market as they know it may collapse. The Wall St. casino is closing. Risk can be taxed by total annihilation. The fun has gone out of becoming fabulous…
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke sounded more confident today in his presentation to the Joint Economic Committee in Washington D.C. It seems as though he did not want to repeat the mistakes he made yesterday…
So far, Congress has not shown any inclination to buy into the Paulson-Bernanke proposal to give the Treasury a clean piece of legislation so that it can purchase up to $700 billion in toxic…
The $700 billion financial system bailout has so far stabilized the financial markets. That part is hard to debate. The long term effects, the path, and the implications are, of course, up for debate. …
According to The Associated Press,The Bush administration is asking Congress to let the government buy $700 billion in bad mortgages as part of the largest financial bailout since the Great Depression. The plan would…