credit crisis

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Citigroup to Buy Wachovia, Backed by FDIC

Deal leaves three 'behemoths' in financial crisis

(Newser) - Citigroup will purchase struggling Wachovia’s banking operations in a $2.2-billion government-backed deal, the Wall Street Journal reports. The FDIC has agreed to take on a portion of potential losses in the plan, which leaves three banks, including Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase, in control of nearly...

Debt Insurance Is What Crippled Wall St.
Debt Insurance Is What Crippled Wall St.
analysis
Sep 28, 2008 5:47 PM CDT

Debt Insurance Is What Crippled Wall St.

How credit-market swaps helped trigger the financial crisis

(Newser) - "Financial weapons of mass destruction,” Warren Buffet called them: credit default swaps. Pioneered by JP Morgan in the 1990s, these financial instruments were bought by banks as insurance that debts would be repaid. The innovation thrived until firms like AIG started defaulting on credit swaps that insured home...

Housing Meltdown Not a Racial Issue
 Housing Meltdown
 Not a Racial Issue 
OPINION
Sep 27, 2008 4:15 PM CDT

Housing Meltdown Not a Racial Issue

Conservative commentators have chosen the wrong scapegoat

(Newser) - Some conservative commentators have bypassed greedy Wall Street firms, reckless lenders, and a government asleep at the wheel to blame minorities for the credit crisis, Cynthia Tucker observes in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. This a misguided move for many reasons, she writes. For starters, the affirmative action lending programs they...

Dems, GOP Close In on Bailout Plan
Dems, GOP Close In on Bailout Plan
Sep 27, 2008 1:49 PM CDT

Dems, GOP Close In on Bailout Plan

Lawmakers haggle into wee hours, vow to unveil accord tomorrow

(Newser) - Lawmakers nearly pulled an all-nighter yesterday negotiating Henry Paulson's bailout plan and vowed to unveil it tomorrow, the New York Times reports. “Staff worked until 3am this morning on the bailout,” Senate majority leader Harry Reid said, and “they made significant progress.” But there are still...

Battered Wachovia Shops for Buyers
Battered Wachovia Shops for Buyers
Sep 27, 2008 11:31 AM CDT

Battered Wachovia Shops for Buyers

Citigroup, Wells Fargo among suitors in wake of WaMu collapse

(Newser) - Wachovia is in a new round of talks with potential buyers, reports the Wall Street Journal, courting Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Spain’s Banco Santander to help guard it from the financial market crisis. While the bank says it’s not in immediate danger, shares at Wachovia, which holds a...

Execs Were Paid $3B to Lay Credit Crisis Foundation

Wall Street chieftains were well rewarded for risks they took in 2003-07

(Newser) - More than $3 billion was paid to the chief executives of the five biggest financial firms on Wall Street in the run-up to the credit crisis, Bloomberg reports. While supervising bad mortgage-related credit bets that eventually brought the financial system to its knees, Merrill Lynch’s Stanley O’Neal took...

JPMorgan Chief Had Long Drooled Over WaMu

Firm writes down $31 billion in bad debt, but builds nation's largest bank

(Newser) - The failure of Washington Mutual was an opportunity for JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who long held a desire to buy the bank, the Seattle Times reports, and saw its large West Coast presence as particularly attractive. Now Dimon, who incorporated Bear Stearns earlier this year, has used the credit...

Swallow the Anger and Pass a Bailout: Pearlstein
Swallow the Anger and Pass
a Bailout: Pearlstein
OPINION
Sep 26, 2008 12:18 PM CDT

Swallow the Anger and Pass a Bailout: Pearlstein

Time to act, act fast, and be prepared to act again in the future

(Newser) - It's time to suck it up and pass a Wall Street bailout, Steven Pearlstein writes in a blunt piece in the Washington Post. "You're angry. I'm angry," he writes, about having to rescue a bunch of irresponsible high-fliers who put the financial system at risk. But the reality...

McCain Will Attend Debate, Cites Progress on Bailout

(Newser) - The debate is on. With lawmakers vowing to stay on the Hill as long as it takes to get a bailout deal, John McCain’s campaign said today that he would attend tonight’s debate with Barack Obama, the New York Times reports. McCain is “optimistic that there has...

Central Banks Scramble to Feed Cash Into Markets

Biz slows as bailout talks stall

(Newser) - The world's central banks are frantically spraying money into the economy to prevent it from seizing up as the US bailout package stalls and confidence plummets, Reuters reports. The holdup in Washington has made edgy commercial banks even more inclined to hoard cash and not lend to each other—leaving...

Lawmakers: We Have a Deal
 Lawmakers: We Have a Deal 
UPDATED
Sep 25, 2008 12:57 PM CDT

Lawmakers: We Have a Deal

Dodd touts 'fundamental agreement' ahead of meeting with Bush

(Newser) - The bipartisan group of legislators working on either a Wall Street bailout or a rescue package has reached "a fundamental agreement on a set of principles," Senate Banking Committee Chris Dodd said today. Racing to make a deal before a scheduled 4pm meeting at the White House, the...

Candidates Will Huddle With Bush on Bailout

Hopefuls headed to DC today to discuss 'flawed' $700B rescue

(Newser) - Both presidential candidates will meet with George W. Bush for talks on the proposed $700 billion bailout of financial firms today, CNN reports. John McCain and Barack Obama released a joint statement on the financial crisis last night, agreeing that the plan was flawed but that "the effort to...

Bush Will Address Public Tonight on Bailout
Bush Will Address Public Tonight on Bailout
UPDATED
Sep 24, 2008 12:14 PM CDT

Bush Will Address Public Tonight on Bailout

President aims to give lawmakers push on $700B plan, garner support

(Newser) - President Bush will address the nation tonight on the proposed $700 billion Wall Street bailout, CNN reports, in hopes a televised speech could sway reticent lawmakers into quick action. The 9pm EDT speech will come after a second day of Treasury chief Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke...

The Perils of Positive Thinking
 The Perils of Positive Thinking 
OPINION
Sep 24, 2008 11:39 AM CDT

The Perils of Positive Thinking

Not just greed, but optimism and can-do led to Wall Street's downfall

(Newser) - “Positive thinking,” the philosophy of self-help books and corporate retreats, has had some negative effects on Wall Street, Barbara Ehrenreich writes in the New York Times. It's popular to blame greed of executives and traders for the current meltdown in the financial markets, but the unbridled optimism and...

McCain Dodges Keating Bullet, For Now
 McCain Dodges 
 Keating Bullet, For Now 
ANALYSIS
Sep 23, 2008 3:00 PM CDT

McCain Dodges Keating Bullet, For Now

Newsweek 's Alter sees 'free ride' for candidate involved in 'last great financial scandal'

(Newser) - John McCain is getting a free ride amid the current US financial storm, Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter told MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann last night, citing the Republican’s involvement in the Keating Five savings-and-loan debacle of the late 1980s. “McCain thinks he's getting a hard time, he's really getting...

Bailout Needs Bigger Taxpayer Upside
 Bailout Needs Bigger 
 Taxpayer Upside 
OPINION
Sep 23, 2008 1:00 PM CDT

Bailout Needs Bigger Taxpayer Upside

Public should expect some reward for taking on Wall Street's bad debt

(Newser) - The impending bailout of beleaguered Wall Street behemoths should give the taxpaying public some protection and accountability, writes EJ Dionne Jr. in the Washington Post. The deal should allow the government to claim a stake in financial firms that make money from the bailout, giving taxpayers the chance to reap...

Candidates Decry Crisis, but Don't Change Plans

McCain and Obama push same spending ideas after meltdown

(Newser) - Though John McCain and Barack Obama are both on board with the White House's $700-billion scheme to bail out Wall Street, they're both still pushing economic plans crafted before the crisis, and likely to be scuttled by it, the Washington Post reports. Although the fiscal situation is, in the words...

Wrangle Over $700B Bailout Heats Up
Wrangle Over $700B Bailout Heats Up
Sep 23, 2008 6:58 AM CDT

Wrangle Over $700B Bailout Heats Up

Lawmakers seek pay caps, homeowner help, as doubts mount

(Newser) - Congress and the Bush administration are edging closer to an agreement on a bailout for financial firms—but several major sticking points remain, the New York Times reports. Progress has been made on oversight for the $700-billion fund, but lawmakers are pushing for taxpayers to get an equity stake in...

Iran Prez: Pentagon Triggered Wall Street Mess

Cost of interventions is bringing down the world, he claims

(Newser) - American intervention abroad is the root cause of today's financial crisis, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the Los Angeles Times yesterday. "The US government has made a series of mistakes," he said. "The imposition on the US economy of heavy military engagement and involvement around the world...

Time to Punish Someone for Economic Disaster
Time to Punish Someone
for Economic Disaster
ANALYSIS
Sep 23, 2008 2:25 AM CDT

Time to Punish Someone for Economic Disaster

Bailout package should penalize those who brought down system, say experts

(Newser) - Economists mostly agree that the financial situation is so dire that a bailout is needed, but many are skeptical about the one proposed. One of the biggest problems is the lack of punitive measures against the reckless, fat-salaried financial bosses who created the mess in the first place, experts tell...

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