Bailout // Current

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2 days ago

Obama Adviser Says U.S. Should Mull Second Stimulus

July 7 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. should consider drafting a second stimulus package focusing on infrastructure projects because the... more

Ihatethemall
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Judge Clears Hurdle for GM's Bankruptcy Exit

A bankruptcy judge has ruled that General Motors Corp. can sell the bulk of its assets to a new company, potentially clearing the... more

ebindelglass
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Citigroup raises interest rates on 15 million customers

Citigroup has sharply increased interest rates on up to 15m US credit card accounts just months before curbs on such rises come... more

jeffissleeping
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obama Say Climate Bill Just The Beginning

President Obama on Friday said the global warming bill the House is debating today is only a start, not the end of efforts to... more

Ihatethemall
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How to rob the treasury for bonuses

You have to love Goldman Sachs:
[Goldman to make record bonus payout -Guardian 21 Jun 2009]

"...Goldman Sachs staff can look forward to the biggest bonus payouts in the firm's 140-year history after a spectacular first half of the year, sparking concern that the big investment banks which survived the credit crunch will derail financial regulation reforms.

"A lack of competition and a surge in revenues from trading foreign currency, bonds and fixed-income products has sent profits at Goldman Sachs soaring, according to insiders at the firm."

Nothing like a little taxpayer money funneled through AIG to add to the pool, right?

"In April, Goldman said it would set aside half of its £1.2bn first-quarter profit to reward staff, much of it in bonuses. It is believed to have paid 973 bankers $1m or more last year, while this year's payouts are on track to be the highest for most of the bank's 28,000 staff, including about 5,400 in London."

Let's remember that Goldman got roughly $10 billion in AIG-funneled money to "settle" CDS that their CEO said was a fully-hedged position and which would have had no material impact if AIG had gone down, mostly because they had collected nearly all of the hedge before AIG got in serious trouble.
That is, they got paid twice - once with their hedge (good move guys) and again by government fiat, directed by Henry Paulson who coincidentally used to run Goldman.

Also note the size of the first-quarter profit, multiply by four (assuming equally good results) and then compare against the "extra" payout through AIG to figure out whether there would be any bonus pool absent that payment.

Looks to me like the US Taxpayer is funding all of Goldman's bonuses, never mind this ditty:

"Last week, the firm predicted that President Barack Obama's government could issue $3.25tn of debt before September, almost four times last year's sum. Goldman, a prime broker of US government bonds, is expected to make hundreds of millions of dollars in profits from selling and dealing in the bonds."

Nice, eh? Do Treasury's bidding, get paid for it, get an extra $10 billion from the taxpayer as a gift to cover a bet you had already hedged against default, and pocket it all.

Change we can believe in - yep, we'll steal even more than we did under The Bush Administration!You have to love Goldman Sachs: [Goldman to make record bonus payout -Guardian 21 Jun 2009] "...Goldman Sachs staff can... more

Ihatethemall
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20 days ago

40th Bank of the Year Closes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators closed three small banks on Friday, bringing the number of bank failures to 40 so far this... more

Ihatethemall
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22 days ago

Fred 'the shred' agrees to cut pension

Fred Goodwin has not had it easy in recent months. He's been rejected from his golf club, had his house vandalised by... more

brad2000
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23 days ago

obama Plan Would Cut Number Of US Bank Regulators

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration plans to call for the U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision to close as part of its... more

Ihatethemall
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23 days ago

Federal Reserve to Gain Power Under Plan

The Federal Reserve, already arguably the most powerful agency in the U.S. government, will get sweeping new authority to regulate... more

Ihatethemall
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5 responses

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24 days ago

Proud to be an American? You should be ashamed.

We have seen the largest looting operation in history perpetrated against The American People. Over $5 trillion dollars in junk... more

Ihatethemall
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24 days ago

We Have Created A Monster: Banks with Access To Public Funds

Readers of the nation's press over the last six months might have been forgiven for believing that there was an economic... more

Ihatethemall
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24 days ago

Hatch, Lincoln Introduce Bill To Ban TARP Recycling

As ten of the nation's biggest banks gear up to repay $68 billion in taxpayer bailout dollars, Congress is battling the Obama... more

atomiclegion
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25 days ago

Surprise,..AIG Is A Chinese Company That Our Government Gave $170 Billion(Taxpayer) To.

Does this constitute treason ? These were taxpayer dollars that went to a Chinese company. Wonder why ? The Chinese government... more

keithponder
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5 responses

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26 days ago

Resignation of David Walker, the most important economic indicator of things to come: Fall of Rome

There have been a few major economic events in the last few years, but I consider the resignation, in March 2008, of David M.... more

salviad
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27 days ago

World's Largest Asset Management Firm formed from Barclays merger forming $2.7-trillion titan

Money management giant BlackRock Inc. late Thursday agreed to buy Barclays Global Investors -- including the iShares... more

jkw077
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27 days ago

Teaser For Untitled Michael Moore Bailout Doc

Here it is...

vistapoint
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14 responses

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29 days ago

Conflict-of-Interest questions arise for top lawmakers that invested in bailout firms

Top House lawmakers had considerable holdings in major financial institutions that took billions of dollars in taxpayer bailouts at the end of last year, according to annual financial disclosure reports released yesterday.

The release of the annual disclosure forms was not scheduled to occur until tomorrow, but the House clerk’s office briefly posted many of them online yesterday, apparently by accident. A firm called LegiStorm captured the data and posted them on its Web site. The Senate will release its forms tomorrow.

The disclosure forms require lawmakers to reveal a broad range of personal holdings and liabilities but not the precise value. Lawmakers are not required to disclose any information about their primary residence, only on rental properties that they own, and they do not have to reveal the terms of those mortgages. Also, Congress requires only that lawmakers list the place of employment and board memberships for spouses, not their annual salaries or director’s fees received by spouses.

The group: Citizens Against Government waste also monitors campaign contributions and lobbyist activity in congress.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the Financial Services Committee, co-authored the $700 billion bailout legislation and continues to oversee its implementation.

Frank is one of the few lawmakers who go beyond what the law requires, disclosing more than 145 pages of month-to-month statements from his accounts with Citigroup Global Markets. Frank does not invest directly in stocks, instead concentrating largely on state and local bonds, with a small amount directed into mutual funds.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her husband lost hundreds of thousands of dollars investing in American International Group, which has received $170 billion in government loans and cash injections, making it by far the largest recipient of federal bailout dollars. Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and his wife held stock, retirement plans and other investments worth at least $183,000 and as much as $495,000 in firms benefiting from federal government rescue efforts, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.), a member of the GOP leadership and booster of his state’s imploding auto industry, watched his holdings in Chrysler plummet. His disclosure forms for the end of 2007 showed he had between $1,000 and $15,000 in company stock, which by the end of last year fell to between $1 and $1,000 in value. After receiving more than $10 billion in federal assistance late last year, Chrysler was guided into bankruptcy by the Obama administration, which helped engineer this week’s sale of Chrysler to the Italian carmaker Fiat.

Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) sold all her holdings in Morgan Stanley in March 2008, cashing out her stock for between $15,000 and $50,000 — holdings that a year earlier were worth between $50,000 and $100,000, records show.

Some ethics watchdogs were critical of members of Congress for investing directly in companies they oversee. “You wonder if they’re voting on things because it’s good for the country or because it would increase their personal wealth,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

But other legal experts said lawmakers, like thousands of other voters, are not receiving special treatment. “This illustrates one of the purposes of financial disclosure, and that is for the public to be able to judge whether they think that a particular interest creates at least an appearance of a conflict,” said Robert L. Walker, thTop House lawmakers had considerable holdings in major financial institutions that took billions of dollars in taxpayer bailouts... more