MetaFilter posts tagged with Bailout

Confused about the current financial mess?

Damienmce — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:22:33 -0800

Don't listen to 'economists', its all about the Cave of Wealth and Death, the Godess of Inflation and Derivatives Beast. In an astonishing 3 parts (so far).

Full Commanding Denial

Adamchik — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:25:38 -0800

There have been a lot of descriptions of our new president, but being in "full commanding denial" is a new and, sadly, insightful one. Clusterf*ck Nation's Jim Kunstler observes that the bailout "is predicated on the idea that the mechanisms of wealth production -- even of illusory wealth, such as the fortunes created by trading securitized unpayable debt -- can keep chugging along, spinning off limitless additional suburban villas, chain stores, car trips, and deep-fried snacks." For a different view, the folks over at the excellent Baseline Scenario have been doing some interesting thinking about The Cultural Costs of Bailout Nation. For an even bigger big picture view, Dmitry Orlov's original analysis of the USSR vs. USA collapse in Superpower Collapse Best Practices seems to be even more resonant in his recent appearances. Maybe it's time to give Full Commanding Denial another chance ....

What the FEC couldn't figure out

shii — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 23:16:04 -0800

Matt Taibbifilter: Among other things, the GAO report noted that the entire OTS had only one insurance specialist on staff — and this despite the fact that it was the primary regulator for the world's largest insurer! This week's MeFi stories have generally failed to explain the reasoning that caused the recession, even though Jon Stewart was basically on the mark. Now, Rolling Stone's only reporter lays it all out The Big Takeover, a typical combination of zealous snark and the overlooked, damning facts needed to clear up a ridiculously complicated story.

A New Way Forward

geos — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:17:14 -0800

Nationalize. Reorganize. Decentralize. anewwayforward.org wants you to organize a protest on April 11^th to express your frustration and disapproval with how our elected officials have handled the economic crisis.

Pitchforks to the right, torches to the left

dejah420 — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 22:55:12 -0800

Washington Post reports that the American International Group, which has received more than $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, plans to pay about $165 million in bonuses by Sunday to executives in the same business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse last year. The payments to A.I.G.’s financial products unit are in addition to $121 million in previously scheduled bonuses.

Treasury paid $100 for every $66 in assets in top-ten TARP deals

shivohum — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:40:02 -0800

The Congressional Oversight Panel, headed by Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Warren, notes in its third monthly report that for every $100 Treasury spent on its ten largest TARP deals, it received back only $66 worth of assets -- significantly less than for roughly comparable private parties.

Prescient Economist: Housing Crash Result of Government Incentives

shivohum — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 21:37:24 -0800

Peter Wallison, an economist who arguably predicted the housing crash and bailout in 1999 explains his current views on the crash: "Other players...played a part" but "...government policy over many years--particularly the use of the Community Reinvestment Act and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to distort the housing credit system-- underlies the current crisis."

"And maybe they’re hoping we’ll buy their bezzle."

orthogonality — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 11:25:28 -0800

The savings and loan’s decision not to settle the lawsuit made no economic sense for a solvent institution, but it made perfect sense if their principle objective was to maintain the false appearance of solvency for as long as possible. The savings and loan was undoubtedly inflating all of their assets, including my homely little lawsuit, to postpone the inevitable.
What reminded me of that incident from my late, unlamented law practice was the persistent failure of financial institutions to modify mortgages voluntarily. It makes perfect economic sense for a safe and sound institution to avoid the ruinous costs of foreclosure by agreeing to reduce the principal and monthly payment for homeowners who can pay a mortgage, but not the one they’ve got. But according to the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, fewer than ten percent of mortgage modifications in November reduced the principal. About half added late payments and penalties to the principal, and either increased monthly payments or added payments at the back end of the mortgage. If a borrower was in default already, what’s the chance the borrower can make a higher monthly payment?

Brad Miller, US Congressman for the Thirteenth District of North Carolina advances a possible motivation for the apparently illogical behavior of US banks.

The Follies of TARP

ornate insect — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 11:41:54 -0800

We may never know whether the bailout worked from the FPP link: according to a new report from congressional auditors...it will be impossible to sort out which of the recent rule changes and spending programs have made a difference... Meanwhile Geithner, Bernanke work on $700B bailout overhaul. Also meanwhile, the SEC charges adviser with fraud linked to bailout. Maybe it's time to let the GAO see TARP recipients' books in order to figure out where the funds are actually going--considering that the total cost could top $4 trillion.

“They didn’t tell me I had to do anything particular with it”

plexi — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 15:06:02 -0800

At the Palm Beach Ritz-Carlton last November, John C. Hope III, the chairman of Whitney National Bank in New Orleans, stood before a ballroom full of Wall Street analysts and explained how his bank intended to use its $300 million in federal bailout money.

“Make more loans?” Mr. Hope said. “We’re not going to change our business model or our credit policies to accommodate the needs of the public sector as they see it to have us make more loans.”

Personal stories from the front lines of the American bailout.

The Bailout Game

Class Goat — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:57:31 -0800

The Bailout game! (Flash)

ARR! "dramatic action" ahoy :P

kliuless — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 09:41:28 -0800

President Obama's plan for American Recovery and Reinvestment [pdf] might be thought of as TARP round two [1,2] -- instead of hiding the bodies, this one's preparing the ground for a big tent or the economic equivalent of war. There are critics and detractors (cramdown nation ;) left and right, natch, but also conservative supporters and progressive defenders to save or create ~~three~~ four million jobs; hooray! ...then there's the question of how to pay for it all [entitlements, ORLY?] -- of course it pays for itself thru the (one) wonders of self-financing! like a key difference in my mind between the current situation and depression-era US or 'lost decade' Japan is reliance on external creditors to finance deficits; the dog isn't barking yet, so to speak... [personally i'm eagerly awaiting the obama corps and a (borked, esp if jerked) military/civil space elevator :]

Larry Flynt needs financial aid

Prunedish — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 02:35:45 -0800

Congress must back sex! According to Larry, "Americans can do without cars and such", but it can't do without sex...and for an extra $5 billion US, he will help Americans do who ever, I mean what ever it takes to get people using porn. However, maybe, just maybe that the decline in sales is due to the free porn access on the net. Another article about it here

The Linguistic Banhammer Falls Again

wendell — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:29:38 -0800

How am I gonna introduce my annual post about the annual LSSU Banished Words List when "It's that time of year again" has itself just been banished? Maybe with an assortment of links not-very-related to the words on This Year's List... (Going) Green Carbon Footprint / Carbon Offset Maverick First Dude Bailout Wall Street / Main Street -Monkey <3> Icon/Iconic Game Changer Staycation Desperate Search Not So Much Winner of X Nominations It's That Time of Year Again

Another one bites the dust...

ThePinkSuperhero — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:27:49 -0800

No Bailout for the Arts? Many organizations could use the help.

CEO 1$ value menu?

Mastercheddaar — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:20:00 -0800

Ford's new Business Plan proposal has been released. Ford CEO Alan Mulally said he'll work for $1 per year if the company has to take any government loan money. Other cut-backs include: "Canceling all management employees' 2009 bonuses and will not pay any merit increases for its North American salaried employees next year." As well as: "The company also said it will sell its five corporate aircraft."

Will they steal the WH china, too?

vhsiv — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:59:54 -0800

Remember the Eliot Spitzer take-down thread here on the blue?It turns out that Spitzer's character assassination may have been more Bush Administration sock puppetry -- back on Valentine's Day, Spitzer wrote an editorial in the WaPo demonizing the lack of consumer protections and was about to file a lawsuit against several Wall Street firms for predatory lending, but the Justice Department caught him with his fly undone and the papers didn't get filed. As a result, we had that October-November financial collapse and a quiet $200 billion bail-out turned into a $900 billion bail-out. Greg Palast was on it, but the MSM didn't bother to look into it. But this past week, Congress did...

Special Bail Out Offer, No Payments Until January 20th

Xurando — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:21:25 -0800

Have we jumped over all the hurdles in our ongoing economic fiasco? Probably not, the next hurdle is Credit Cards. "More is coming, I’m sorry to say. Layoffs are being announced nationwide in the tens of thousands. As people begin to lose their jobs, they will not be able to pay their credit card bills either. And the banks will be back for more handouts."

AAA?

Gyan — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 06:47:35 -0800

Anatomy of a Meltdown - Ben Bernanke and the financial crisis (in one page)

Bridge Loaner? But I hardly know her...

jourman2 — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:21:57 -0800

Andrew Ross Sorkin takes apart GM piece by piece. While furiously selling off assets, its stock at a 40 year low, a 38 billion dollar loss in 2007, and 25 billion loss so far in 2008, GM seems to be in a worse position than ever. Some argue GM and the big 3 automakers are too interconnected to let fail. But are they? What's the solution? A whole variety of opinions

Can I pay my taxes with a student loan?

jckll — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:31:56 -0800

After an historic near-collapse (p), a federal bailout to the tune of $85,000,000,000, a second federal bailout to the tune of $37,800,000,000 and one hell of a party (p), the news on A.I.G. just keeps getting better. Now: Fed arbitrage! Paying down a 9% taxpayer loan with a 2% taxpayer loan? Genius!

олигáрх

gman — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:17:51 -0800

Moscow is home to the largest number of billionaires and in Russia, there are nearly 100 billionaires. Due to recent economic developments and the drop in oil prices, the oligarchs, who rose to prominence under Gorbachev, have lost a combined total of $200 billion. Help is here.

Canary in the coal mine...

jaduncan — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:32:11 -0800

Iceland's last non state-owned bank is nationalised, with subsidiaries shut down in Finland, refusing to pay depositors in the UK and in adminstration in Luxemberg. Iceland has had to shut down trading on the stock market to stop panic dumping, and has become one of the most state run economies in the world. For everyone who wondered what true worst case is, this might be it (saving the Weimar scenario, but the US is too sane for that).

Well there goes Reykjavik

blahblah — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:29:06 -0800

More subprime collateral damage. Iceland's now getting a $5B bailout from Russia. What does Russia want in return? Access to shipping lanes? The old US base? via

Screw Disneyland. We're Going to the St. Regis Resort Monarch Beach!

ericb — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:00:05 -0800

Last month (Sept. 16, 2008) the American taxpayers bailed out insurance giant American International Group (AIG) to the tune of $85 billion dollars. So, asked "what ya' goin' do now after the bailout?" top executives said "party it up at the St. Regis Resort Monarch Beach (Dana Point, CA) for a week (September 22 - 30, 2008). Total costs? Invoice: $443,343.71. "$200,000 dollars for hotel rooms. Almost $150,000 for catered banquets. AIG spent $23,000 at the hotel spa and another $1,400 at the salon." Said Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD): "They were getting manicures, facials, pedicures and massages while American people were footing the bill. And they spent another $10,000 dollars for I don’t know what this is, leisure dining. Bars?"