financial crisis

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Obama Should Have Put Wall Street on Trial
Obama Should Have Put Wall Street on Trial
OPINION

Obama Should Have Put Wall Street on Trial

But he didn't, and now GOP fat cats can somehow play populist

(Newser) - How can rich fat cats like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh pretend to be populists, while tarring Barack Obama as the establishment? Because Barack Obama missed his chance to strike a blow for the little guy and prosecute Wall Street, writes communications professor Jon Taplin. Instead, he listened to Wall...

Fuld: 'I Was Whipping Boy' for Lehman Failure

Lehman's last CEO steels himself for anniversary of firm's collapse

(Newser) - Former Lehman CEO Richard Fuld is ready to get dumped on again as the anniversary of the company's collapse nears, he told a Reuters reporter. Fuld was widely blamed for leading Lehman into the biggest bankruptcy in US history, although former execs are still bitter that rivals Bear Stearns, Merrill...

Bankrupt Lehman Stock Booms in Long-Shot Trading

Bankrupt company jumps sixfold in 'lottery ticket' deals

(Newser) - Here's a stock tip for you: Lehman Brothers. No, really—the busted financial giant, which had been trading at less than 5 cents a share, peaked at 32 cents last week, with volume hitting 100 million shares in late August after sitting at virtually zero most of the year. The...

Krugman: How Economists Blew It
Krugman: How Economists Blew It
OPINION

Krugman: How Economists Blew It

Downturn blindsided big brains who thought markets were perfect

(Newser) - Believe it or not, economists were, until about a year ago, congratulating themselves on a job well done. Now the dismal science is in shock, and Paul Krugman thinks he knows why. Economists, he writes in the New York Times Magazine, “mistook beauty, clad in impressive-looking mathematics, for truth....

Redskins Sue Cash-Strapped Fans, Win Millions

Team has sued 125 fans, made $2 million

(Newser) - Over the last 5 years, the Washington Redskins have won $2 million in judgments after suing 125 season ticket holders who wanted out of their multiyear contracts, the Washington Post reports. Many say they’re loyal fans who simply fell on hard times, but the Redskins insist that lawsuits are...

Oldsters Refusing to Step Aside to Free Up Jobs

Reliance on volatile 401(k)s breeds reluctance to retire

(Newser) - Their retirement savings devastated by the financial crisis, older workers are increasingly postponing retirement, the New York Times reports, creating even more competition for scarce jobs. A recent survey found that four in 10 workers over 62 have remained at their jobs longer than they planned thanks to the recession....

What Bailout? AIG CEO Prefers Making Wine

Under fire for blunt talk, Benmosche pursues real passion: grapes

(Newser) - New AIG chief Robert Benmosche has garnered reams of bad coverage since taking over the train-wreck insurer—and nearly a month into the job, he's still at his holiday villa in Croatia. Reuters visited Benmosche at his coastal idyll and finds his true passion to be not finance but the...

Bank of America Ready to Repay $20B in Bailout Cash

But bank haggles with Treasury, Fed over fee for loss-sharing deal

(Newser) - Bank of America may become the latest institution to pay back a portion of its bailout money, with an eye toward escaping Washington's scrutiny of its pay packages. BofA isn't ready to pay back $45 billion in first-round TARP funds, the Wall Street Journal reports, but wants to start with...

Commercial Real Estate May Set Off 2nd Crisis

Another mortgage-backed securities market gets into trouble

(Newser) - Just as the economy starts to recover, a second mortgage disaster may be looming. The commercial real estate sector is tanking, with many properties unable to generate enough cash to make mortgage payments. Lo and behold, those commercial mortgages have been sewn into securities—comparable to the packages of home...

FDIC Fund Falls to $10.4B as Banks Struggle

Government will likely have to charge bank fees to replenish it

(Newser) - The FDIC's fund for protecting bank deposits fell in June to just $10.4 billion—the lowest balance since the savings and loan crisis—all but ensuring that the government will have to levy new fees on banks to replenish it, the Wall Street Journal reports. The fund topped $45....

Broke, California Holds Huge Garage Sale

(Newser) - Just how bad has California’s budget crisis gotten? So bad that it’s holding what it’s calling the “Great California Garage Sale” this weekend, hoping to unload piles of junk and wasteful property that the state’s accrued over the years. Hundreds of items will be available,...

Bernanke's Next Challenge: Undoing His Own Work

Rate cuts, other moves must eventually be reversed

(Newser) - In his first term as Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke played the role of savior, lending hundreds of billions to banks and businesses, backing the mortgage market, and cutting interest rates. In his second, Bernanke will have to turn “strict disciplinarian,” reversing earlier moves to respond to a massive...

Obama Nominates Bernanke for 2nd Term

Prez: he 'approached a financial system on the verge of collapse with calm and wisdom'

(Newser) - President Obama has nominated Ben Bernanke for a second term as Federal Reserve chairman, saying Bernanke “led the Fed through the one of the worst financial crises that this nation and this world have ever faced,” the AP reports. “Ben approached a financial system on the verge...

Obama Wants 2nd Fed Term for Bernanke

(Newser) - President Obama will nominate Ben Bernanke for a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve, the Wall Street Journal reports. Obama, who will make the announcement tomorrow, credits Bernanke with “pulling the economy back from the brink of depression,” White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said...

Recession Soon Over, but Here Comes Another
Recession Soon Over, but Here Comes Another
OPINION

Recession Soon Over, but Here Comes Another

Roubini: Unwinding rescue could produce 'W-shaped' recovery

(Newser) - The global recession is nearly over, but the recovery is far from certain, writes NYU professor and professional pessimist Nouriel Roubini in a Financial Times op-ed. The economist who predicted the financial crisis chides colleagues who foresee a V-shaped recovery, with a quick return to growth. Rather, the recovery will...

Bankers Saved the World: Bernanke

(Newser) - Ben Bernanke patted himself on the back today for helping to save the world from a complete economic meltdown, MarketWatch reports. Facing public outrage and the prospect of President Obama dumping him in 6 months, the Fed chair said at a retreat in Wyoming that the world’s central banks...

Why Stimulus Gets a Bad Rap
 Why Stimulus Gets a Bad Rap 
OPINION

Why Stimulus Gets a Bad Rap

(Newser) - The Democrats’ $787 billion stimulus package is less popular than ever—even though it’s already working, writes David Wessel for the Wall Street Journal. The case against it is weak: Fed rate cuts hadn’t slowed the recession, already a year-old at that point, making the stimulus an appropriate...

Bernanke: Hero on Wall Street, Despised in Congress

(Newser) - Ben Bernanke can expect a standing ovation from economists at a Fed retreat in Jackson Hole today—for the financial establishment, the Fed chairman is a superhero, hailed for his aggressive, unprecedented actions to stem the worst crisis in generations. Yet on Capitol Hill he's far less popular, and the...

Lousy Retail Sales Will Delay Recovery

Recession isn't over as far as consumers are concerned

(Newser) - If the recession is indeed waning, nobody told consumers. Retailers of every kind reported lousy sales for the quarter ended Aug. 1, the Wall Street Journal reports. Target’s same-store sales fell 6.2%, Home Depot’s dropped 9.1% and Saks’ plummeted a whopping 15.5%. And with unemployment,...

JPMorgan Chase to Lend California $1.5B

(Newser) - After joining other major banks in snubbing cash-strapped California last month, JPMorgan Chase has changed tack and is lending the state $1.5 billion to end its IOU program a month early. The short-term loan will enable California to start redeeming on Sept. 4 the IOUs it has been using...

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