Fed chair Ben Bernanke is nicknamed "Helicopter Ben" because of his 2002 speech recommending that money be dropped from a helicopter in order to prevent deflation (and then actually doing it).Similarly, I think we should nickname Secretary of Treasury ...
Emailed to me by a contact in Congress. November 18, 2009 ...
As everyone knows, the big banks have gotten bigger and bigger. Noted economist Mark Zandi says we have an oligopoly of banks, and that "the oligopoly has tightened". The TARP Inspector - Neil Barofsky - told Huffington Post yesterday that, because of...
The recent forced closing of thousands of new-car dealerships across America, most of them General Motors and Chrysler stores, has prompted strong protest from Washington....
Reading about the huge budget cuts almost every state in the country is being forced to make quickly puts the $4.7 trillion we have pumped into the financial sector into perspective, and leaves us pondering the opportunity cost -- what else we could have done with that money. Consider: ...
The total exposure of the US government to the financial crisis could hit $23.7 trillion (£14.3tn), according to a watchdog report.Neil Barofsky, overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Programme (Tarp), made the estimate in prepared remarks to a House of ...
A soon-to-be released report by special inspector general Neil Barofsky finds: Many of the banks that got federal aid to support increased lending have instead used some of the money to make investments, repay debts or buy other banks It is not clear w...