January 13
Wednesday, 01/13/2010 - 9:09 am by Justin Lutz | Post a Comment
Inquiry panel to hear from bankers (Politico)
Even as the White House considers new fees on Wall Street firms to recoup lost bailout funds, the bankers who received those funds will defend their actions before a newly created panel trying to figure out what went wrong.
Drill, Baby, Drill: Reviewing The Advice To The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (Baseline Scenario)
The real issue, of course, is the nature of the risk system itself. But this is a big abstract question - and not suited to these kind of
hearings. The Commission needs to find concrete issues that people can relate to much more broadly, and bonuses are very much in the line of fire.
Bernanke Challenged on Rates’ Role in Bust (WSJ)
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says low interest rates engineered by the Fed in the early 2000s aren’t to blame for the housing boom and bust. But he hasn’t convinced fellow economists.
We Waited for This? (NYT)
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday failed to win permission to amend its complaint against Bank of America to include a new claim that the firm misled shareholders about billions of dollars in losses at Merrill Lynch before a December 2008 vote.
Bank of America Names Joe Price to Stem Consumer-Loan Losses (Bloomberg)
Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan named finance chief Joe Price to head consumer banking, the biggest unit at the largest U.S. lender, seeking to curb losses in a $70 billion credit-card portfolio.
Economic stimulus has created or saved nearly 2 million jobs, White House say (WP)
The $787 billion economic stimulus package has created or saved between 1.7 million and 2 million jobs, but its impact on the economy ebbed slightly in the final quarter of 2009 compared with prior months, the White House said Tuesday night.
Obama to announce TARP fee on banks on Thursday (Reuters)
President Barack Obama will announce plans on Thursday to raise up to $120 billion from major U.S. financial firms to cover expected losses from a taxpayer-funded bank bailout, a senior administration official said on Tuesday.
Quelle Surprise! Health Insurers Pretended to Play Nice, Lobbied Against Reform (Naked Capitalism)
The headline above would normally be seen as “dog bites man” save for the fact that during the health reform debate, the insurers went to considerable lengths to profess they really, really had changed their ways and were now going to be good corporate citizens.
Week-To-Week Mortgage Applications Rise 14.3%: MBA (WSJ)
Mortgage applications rose a seasonally adjusted 14.3% last week as interest rates on fixed-rate mortgages fell, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday.
