Items of Interest:
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----Hank Paulson throws a T.A.R.P. (`Troubled Asset Relief Program') over the financial crisis.
Bloomberg:
Paulson Announces `Troubled Asset Relief Program' -- The following is a statement by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson released today in Washington.
``Last night, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, SEC Chairman Chris Cox and I had a lengthy and productive working session with Congressional leaders. We began a substantive discussion on the need for a comprehensive approach to relieving the stresses on our financial institutions and markets..
Wall Street Journal: DealBook:
Putting a Price Tag on a Government Bailout
Paulson Takes Page From Rubin, Tapping Treasury Rainy-Day Fund -- An obscure U.S. Treasury Department fund that Robert Rubin once used to save the Mexican economy may provide cash to preserve the savings of investors in U.S. money-market mutual funds.
The Treasury will use the $50 billion Exchange Stabilization Fund to insure publicly offered retail and institutional funds, the department said in a statement. The move comes after the Reserve Primary Fund this week became the first in 14 years to break the buck, or drop below $1 a share, exposing investors to losses...
Get Shorty
Wall Street Journal:
SEC Is Set to Issue Temporary Ban Against Short Selling — The Securities and Exchange Commission prepared an aggressive assault against short-sellers, saying it would temporarily prevent investors from making bets on stock declines in an attempt to stem some of the worst stock-market slides in years …
Bloomberg:
Paulson Announces `Troubled Asset Relief Program' -- The following is a statement by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson released today in Washington.
``Last night, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, SEC Chairman Chris Cox and I had a lengthy and productive working session with Congressional leaders. We began a substantive discussion on the need for a comprehensive approach to relieving the stresses on our financial institutions and markets..
Bloomberg:Mike Allen / The Politico:
Paulson, Bernanke Expand U.S. Power to Rescue Markets
NY Times:
Stocks Surge as U.S. Acts to Shore Up Money Funds and Limits Short Selling
Breaking: Paulson plan could cost $1 trillion — Congressional leaders said after meeting Thursday evening with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that as much as $1 trillion could be needed to avoid an imminent meltdown of the U.S. financial system.
Discussion:Washington Post: Citing Grave Financial Threats, Officials Ready Massive RescueMark Silva / The Swamp: Bush: Economy's ‘pivotal moment’Michelle Malkin: The Mother of All Bailouts = The Death of Fiscal ConservatismGoldy / HorsesAss.Org: Without John McCain, they would've called them “The Keating Four”Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs: A trillion — Mike Allen reports that Hank Paulson will announce …Buck Naked Politics: Don't Panic! Massive Plan to Salvage the Economy Currently Under WayJonah B. Gelbach / Economists for Obama: How Much is a Trillion? — I've now seen the following argument …unbossed.com: Bush bails out of his jobDavid Weigel / Reason: One Trillion Dollars! — The bailout of the insurance industry …Bloomberg: Bush Absent on Financial Crisis as Paulson Leads
Todd Harrison / Minyanville:
Tying History Up with a Bow --It took me all day to arrive at this simple summation that the government made a simple trade. They bought the cancer and sold the car crash ...
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RELATED:Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Drafts Sweeping Plan to Fight Crisis As Turmoil Worsens in Credit Markets — Paulson Briefs Congress on Idea to Buy Bad Assets From Banks, Insure Money-Market Funds; Stocks Rebound Sharply — WASHINGTON — The federal government is working on a sweeping series of programs …
Rose Garden / White House:
President Bush Discusses Economy — THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. I thank Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and SEC Chairman Chris Cox for joining me today. — This is a pivotal moment for America's economy. Problems that originated in the credit markets …
Discussion:Amanda / Think Progress: Bush Compares The Financial Crisis He Created To The Terrorist Attacks …Johanna Neuman / The LA Times President Bush Blog: Bush on Wall Street meltdown: taxpayers on the lineEddy / CrossingWallStreet.com: Bush: “Anyone engaging in illegal financial transactions will be ...
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Crisis Endgame — On Sunday, Henry Paulson, the Treasury secretary …
Crisis Endgame — On Sunday, Henry Paulson, the Treasury secretary …
Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Grasping Reality …, Swampland and The Mahablog
New York Times:
For Rivals, Finance Crisis Is Posing on-the-Fly Tests -- The financial crisis has turned the race between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama into an audition for who could best handle a national economic emergency...
For Rivals, Finance Crisis Is Posing on-the-Fly Tests -- The financial crisis has turned the race between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama into an audition for who could best handle a national economic emergency...
Discussion:John McCormick / The Swamp: Obama holds back specifics for crisis planMark Murray / MSNBC: FIRST THOUGHTS: IT'S STILL THE ECONOMYDavid Rogers / The Politico: ‘An unprecedented crisis’ — Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson...Martin Kady II / The Crypt's Blogs: Dodd insists foreclosure help must be in bailoutBen Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs: Obama vs. FlyMichael Falcone / The Caucus: The Early Word: Candidates Spar on the EconomyAnnbinlot / TIME.com: McCain, Obama Battle it Out on the Financial Crisis
Graham Bowley / New York Times:
Stocks Surge as U.S. Acts to Shore Up Money Funds and Limits Short Selling
Stocks Surge as U.S. Acts to Shore Up Money Funds and Limits Short Selling
Discussion:Steven G. Brant / The Huffington Post: Celebrating Capitalism's Death? Not So Fast...
Putting a Price Tag on a Government Bailout
Discussion:Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System: For release at 8:30 a.m. EDTThe New / New York Times: Treasury to Guarantee Money Market FundsCalculated Risk: The Price of the Bailout — Secretary Paulson said: “We're talking hundreds of billions.”Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine: The moral imbalance of bailouts
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Bloomberg:Paulson Takes Page From Rubin, Tapping Treasury Rainy-Day Fund -- An obscure U.S. Treasury Department fund that Robert Rubin once used to save the Mexican economy may provide cash to preserve the savings of investors in U.S. money-market mutual funds.
The Treasury will use the $50 billion Exchange Stabilization Fund to insure publicly offered retail and institutional funds, the department said in a statement. The move comes after the Reserve Primary Fund this week became the first in 14 years to break the buck, or drop below $1 a share, exposing investors to losses...
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Get ShortyWall Street Journal:
SEC Is Set to Issue Temporary Ban Against Short Selling — The Securities and Exchange Commission prepared an aggressive assault against short-sellers, saying it would temporarily prevent investors from making bets on stock declines in an attempt to stem some of the worst stock-market slides in years …
Discussion:Lance / QandO: SHORT OF WISDOM, COMMON SENSE AND A GRASP OF REALITYMichael Shedlock / Mish's Global Economic …: Peak Insanity: SEC Plans to Temporarily Ban Short-SellingFelix Salmon / Portfolio: Banning Terrorism — I have a nasty feeling that Christopher Cox watches Jim Cramer.Eddy / CrossingWallStreet.com: SEC Plans to Temporarily Ban Short-SellingBess Levin / Dealbreaker: SEC: Welcome To PakistanLandon Thomas Jr / New York Times: A Dark Mood Among Hedge Funds in London
Related:
Barry Ritholtz / The Big Picture:
Terror Attack on US Financials? Details of SEC Short Ban — Is anyone investigating whether this is a case of financial terrorism? ... its an interesting theory, one that seemed kinda out there -- until last night's emergency action. Nothing else really explains the insanity of banning short sales...
Associated Press:
SEC bans short-selling — WASHINGTON - The Securities and Exchange Commission took the dramatic step early Friday of temporarily banning the routine practice of betting against company stocks. — The move, announced on the agency's Web site, may well be unprecedented and a reflection …
Ian Welsh / Firedoglake:
SEC Panic Raises Odds of Major Market Meltdown
SEC Panic Raises Odds of Major Market Meltdown
Discussion:Barry Ritholtz / The Big Picture: SEC: Ban All Short SellingJoanna Chung / Financial Times: SEC weighs ban on short selling
McCain Says Cox Should Be Fired As SEC Chief Amid ‘Casino’ Markets
Discussion:Andrew Stuttaford / The Corner: Cox — Kathryn, John McCain has a point. The SEC's 2007 decision …Quin Hillyer / American Spectator: McCain Has Lost His MindMoon of Alabama: McCain and Cox … McCain is right that Cox should be fired.B. Furnas / Wonk Room: Since McCain Proposed Social Security Privatization In 1999 …Jennifer Parker / Political Radar: McCain Flub? Republican Says He'd Fire SEC Chair as PresidentDaniel Larison / Eunomia: McCain Gets Something Right (Sort Of)
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Infectious Greed:The Blame Game (II): Credit Rating Agencies are Rug Pee-ers -- Prominent in the vast and ever-growing bestiary of people being blamed for the ongoing financial crisis are the credit rating agencies. It is their ongoing downgrades of structured paper -- stuff on which they slapped triple-A ratings a few years ago during a fog of slavish stupidity -- that has gutted the balance sheets of so many firms, causing them to keel over precipitously...
First, credit rating analysts are generally sweet people, but they're not universally the sharpest tools in the financial shed...
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Bankers Ball:Lonely Lehmanites Turn to (What Else) Craigslist -- Laid off bankers + free time = ???? You tell me. There’s a rash of posters on good ole’ CL using the Lehman sob story to score some sympathy from the ladies, among other things. Everything is coming out of the woodwork...
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- Paulson's Line in the Sand Washed Away by Tides - C. Baum, Bloomberg
- Hank Paulson to the Rescue - Marc Gunther, Fortune
- Chris Cox: John McCain's Scapegoat - Editorial, Wall Street Journal
- Reinstate The Glass-Steagall Act - Thomas Kostigen, MarketWatch
- A Failure To Learn from the Past - Marti Subrahmanyam, Forbes
- The Way Bankers Are Paid Needs Rethinking - Editorial, New York Times
- USD Ready for Second Wind When Dust Clears - Michael Sesit, Bloomberg
- Bob Toll: Master Overbuilder - Andrew Rice, Portfolio
- How to Cure This Sick System - Steve Forbes, Forbes
- Prophets of the Credit Crunch Predict What's Next - Interview, Fortune
- Committee of Three Responds to Crisis - Cho & Irwin, Wash. Post
- How to Save the Financial System - William Isaac, Wall Street Journal
- Greenspan's Sins Return to Haunt Us - David Blake, Financial Times
- Throwing Bad Debt After Bad—Again! - Nicole Gelinas, City Journal
- Is Market Outperformance Pure Luck? - Vanessa Drucker, Fund Strategy
- Is Goldman Sachs Next? - Tracy Corrigan, Daily Telegraph
- Never Sell America Short - Larry Kudlow, RealClearMarkets
- SEC Should Revive the Uptick Rule - Editorial, Investor's Business Daily
- More Regulation Will Harm, Not Help - Gerard Baker, Times of London
- Too Big to Fail, Too Big Not To Regulate - Floyd Norris, NY Times
- Understanding the Panic of '08 - Vinny Catalano, Minyanville
- How to Turn a Recession Into a Depression - J. Pethokoukis, Cap. Commerce
- What Would a New Government Entity Look Like? - Calculated Risk
- Fire the SEC's Chris Cox? Sure, Then Fire John McCain - Infectious Greed
- How SEC Regulatory Exemptions Helped Lead to Collapse - Big Picture
- How Wall Street Lied to Its Computers - Saul Hansell, NY Times Bit
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Of general interest:BestCollegesOnline: 100 Awesome Blogs for History Junkies
Laura James Esq. / CLEWS:
Grisham: Innocent of Libel -- Following the release of his first non-fiction book, The Innocent Man, Grisham found himself sued for defamation along with a host of others who had written about the wrongful conviction of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz for the 1982 murder of Debbie Carter in Ada, Oklahoma...
Long story short, the judge disagreed [with the libel claim]. In a decision released a couple days ago, the judge dismissed the case, remarking, as the Associated Press is reporting, that "The wrongful convictions of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz must be discussed openly and with great vigor." ...
