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S&P cites Obama meeting in fraud case records demand
The government seeks as much as $5 billion in civil penalties for losses to federally insured banks and credit unions that relied on the S&P’s claims.
Wall Street’s 1929 scams return in Geithner plan
What would Ferdinand Pecora do? Thirty-seven years after his death, the name of this former assistant district attorney from New York suddenly is on a lot of politicians’ lips. Starting in 1933, as counsel to the Senate Banking and Currency Committee, the Sicilian-born Pecora led a yearlong series of sensational hearings into the causes of […]
Economist Gary Becker dishes antidote to federal activism
Action is what politicians are all about, especially in a crisis. So you can be sure that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s Public-Private Investment Program to restructure troubled banks will hardly be the last rescue plan – as they inevitably, heroically, are labeled – to emerge. The G-20 meeting in London this month will be all […]
Tim Geithner deals Wall Street a can’t-lose poker hand
I feel like Rush Limbaugh now, because I really want certain people to fail: George W. Bush’s former economic adviser, Lawrence Lindsey, Nobel Prize-winning economists Paul Krugman and Columbia University Professor Joseph Stiglitz. All of them say the U.S. Treasury’s plan to buy troubled bank assets will lead to rack and ruin. And when the […]
Geithner will outlast AIG outrage, public pounding
When Timothy Geithner was nominated as U.S. Treasury secretary in November, the stock market soared and he won bipartisan plaudits. Departing Treasury chief Henry Paulson, a Republican, expressed “the highest regard for him.” House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, a Democrat, called him “extremely able” and “very reassuring to the markets.” No[...]
Inside man Geithner shines when he’s offstage
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner never looks so tall as when he’s sitting down. Sketching a diagram about the nation’s banks on a legal pad in Bloomberg Television’s green room last week, he showed he’s at his most impressive when the cameras are off. Geithner had just finished one of his better interviews, an hour-long sit-down […]
JPMorgan, banks to halt foreclosures for three weeks
Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo & Co. agreed to suspend foreclosures while the Obama administration crafts a housing plan to modify mortgages for troubled borrowers. Citigroup will halt foreclosures through March 12, or when a plan is completed, the company said Friday in a statement. […]
Geithner should fix Kafka-like code
There is one way to be sure that you are complying precisely with U.S. tax law: read the entire code. Problem is, it currently contains about 3.4 million words. That’s like reading “War and Peace” six times. If you did spend the month that it would take the typical American to read the tax code, […]
Fed focuses on consumer, corporate loan rate spreads
Federal Reserve officials are focused on driving down the spreads between U.S. Treasury yields and consumer and corporate loans, after cutting the main interest rate to almost zero failed to revive lending. Credit costs for households and businesses haven’t followed yields on government debt lower. Fifteen-year fixed-rate mortgages were at 5.06 percent last week, 2.59 […]
Latest Opinion Digests
- Immigration: Asylum-Withholding of Removal-Appellate Jurisdiction
- Criminal Law: Child Pornography-Bottom-of-Guidelines Sentence-Substantive Reasonableness of Sentence
- Criminal Law: Child Abuse-Sufficiency Of Evidence-Closing Argument
- Civil Rights: Religious Freedom-RLUIPA-Res Judicata
- Civil Practice: Res Judicata-Stop Work Order
- Immigration: Drug Conviction-Removability-Overbreadth of State Offense
- Civil Practice: Asset Forfeiture-Sanctions
- Civil Rights: Due Process-Failure to State Claim
- Probate : Revocable Trust – Amendment – Reformation
- Employer – Employee : Unpaid Commissions – At-Will Status
- Criminal Law : Post-Conviction Relief – Effectiveness Of Counsel – Conflict Of Interest
- Appellate Practice : Jurisdiction – Final Judgment
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