Archive for June 9th, 2009

Let TARP Die And Let Congress Do Their Duty

With bank TARP repayments now flowing back to the government and, with the notable exception of Citi, probably a lot more to come, is it time to consider shutting down the program? I would argue that it should be terminated. As originally sold to the Congress and by extension their constituents this program was a […]

Countrywide Exec Warned The Fed On Toxic Mortgages

Well, this is interesting. If you’ve read the SEC complaint against Countrywide’s Angelo Mozillo and other executives you probably noticed the name John P. McMurray popping up several times. He was the chief risk manager at Countrywide who saw the problems coming, alerted management and was promptly ignored. It turns out that Countrywide wasn’t the […]

Auto Companies Suppliers Next In Line For A Bailout

The black hole that is the auto industry needs to suck in more cash. The parts suppliers are once again lining up for federal aid. From the WSJ: U.S. auto-parts companies plan to ask the Obama administration for as much as $10 billion in new aid as theĀ General MotorsĀ Corp. and Chrysler LLC bankruptcies deepen the […]

The Hudson Ditching

Way off topic but fascinating is the testimony of U.S. Airways Captain Sullenberger, he of the famed landing in the Hudson. From the WSJ: After spotting a flock of birds that “were very large and filled the entire windscreen” of the jet, Capt Sullenberger noticed a dramatic drop in thrust. Investigators later determined at least […]

The Coffin For Regulatory Reform Has Been Ordered

The Obama administration had been diddling around with financial regulatory reform for some time. They’ve been making lots of noise about finally rolling something out next week. The response from Congress is go ahead but we don’t have time to deal with it right now. Senator Chris Dodd said that health care was not the […]

The Price Of Oil Spikes Up

Yikes! Oil closed above $70. Nobody seems to think that demand is driving the price. The culprit is the weakening dollar. In the end, it probably doesn’t matter what’s to blame, the damage is going to be done anyway. more: here

Paying Back TARP

The big news of the day is that the Treasury is going to allow 10 banks to repay their TARP money. For some reason that only a bureaucrat could probably appreciate, they didn’t publish a list of the banks that will be freed. The banks get to announce it individually but if you don’t want […]