The Fannie and Freddie Black Hole
With the $700 billion TARP to focus on, it can be easy to forget about the massive taxpayer bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Right now, the combined total is at $84.9 billion—more even than AIG. In the next week or two, that number will continue upward when Fannie and Freddie report their second quarter results. Every quarter since their bailout,
Associated Press Cracking Down on People Using Its Content ‘for Free’
The Associated Press (AP) is not making any friends in the bloghesphere as it continues to hunt down people using any of its headlines and content without paying for it. AP is the biggest news service in the world, producing articles, photos, and video for public consumption through paid subscriptions by newspapers, radio, TV, and online broadcasters.
Bernanke Defends Fed’s Response To Crisis On PBS Forum
A town hall meeting, hosted by PBS Jim Lehrer, at the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City gave Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke a much needed opportunity and tribune to explain, in depth, the difficult decisions made during the worst part of the global financial meltdown.
Are Taxpayers Getting A Fair Deal On TARP Repayments?
Yesterday, two major US banks (Bank of America and Citibank) posted very substantial quarterly profits, following the record profits of Goldman Sachs a few days ago. Is this a sign that the financial sector is finally recovering from the meltdown of 2008?
Can Treasury Geithner Convince Investors That Their US Assets Are Safe?
Treasury Secretary Geithner will be in the Middle-East this week trying to re-assure the oil rich states that their investments in the US are safe, despite the looming budget deficit.
