Archive for the ‘taxpayer issues’ Category
Thursday, June 11th, 2009
So much for de-leveraging.
The Fed published its latest Flow of Funds report today. One key takeaway: While total debt is growing more slowly, it is still growing. Since Q3 '08 households have cut their debt (slightly), but the federal government is borrowing so rapidly, overall debt continues to expand.
(Click chart ...
Posted in debt, Economy, Fed, housing, leverage, politics, taxpayer issues, treasury | 16 Comments »
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
From Breitbart: China Airs Fears on U.S. Debt, Dollar According to Lawmaker
Senior Chinese leaders have privately voiced fear over the soaring US budget deficit and are increasingly looking to diversify from the dollar, a Republican congressman said.
"We heard across the board -- in private -- substantial, continuing and rising concern," ...
Posted in china, debt, international trade, politics, taxpayer issues | 1 Comment »
Friday, May 22nd, 2009
From the LA Times:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing to completely eliminate the state’s welfare program for families, medical insurance for low-income children and Cal Grants cash assistance to college and university students.
The proposals to sharply scale back the assistance that California provides to its neediest residents came in testimony by ...
Posted in taxpayer issues | 19 Comments »
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
Today the Trustees for Social Security and Medicare published their annual reports regarding the current and projected financial status of the two "trust funds."* They list the present value of our unfunded obligations at $51.1 trillion over the next 75 years: $5.3 trillion for S.S. and $45.8 trillion for the ...
Posted in taxpayer issues | 11 Comments »
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009
Geithner's plan to rid banks of their toxic assets---the Public-Private Investment Program or "PPIP"---is getting an early face-lift. The plan is still a taxpayer giveaway, but perhaps a slightly smaller one now. (Bloomberg)
[FDIC] may offer investors financing to buy distressed U.S. bank assets without requiring them to share an equity ...
Posted in banking, FDIC, leverage, taxpayer issues, treasury | 8 Comments »
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
According to a report late last night from Bloomberg, six of the nineteen banks that were stress tested by the Fed will need to raise additional capital. Two of the six are known: Citi and BofA.* Both are appealing the ruling. The other four banks aren't known, but SunTrust, KeyCorp ...
Posted in banking, Fed, taxpayer issues, treasury, Wall Street | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
Neil Barofsky, the Special Inspector General overseeing TARP says recipients of aid under the program may defraud investors of tens of billions. As the LA Times is reporting...
...federal investigators said Monday they have opened 20 criminal probes into possible securities fraud, tax violations, insider trading and other crimes.
Geithner's plan to ...
Posted in taxpayer issues, treasury | 2 Comments »
Monday, April 20th, 2009
A hedge-funder well-known to OA---who wishes to remain anonymous---chimes in with a rather fascinating idea in our humble opinion, one that (at least in the state of Maryland) could take the foreclosure process for many houses/condos out of the hands of banks.*
We thought worthy of sharing because of the larger ...
Posted in debt, housing, taxpayer issues | 16 Comments »
Sunday, April 19th, 2009
Geithner's strategy to protect bank creditors at all costs continues.
The administration knows that the banking system will need more capital to survive in its present form. The big banks are sitting on billions more of losses than can possibly be absorbed by their dwindling equity.* This implies that those further ...
Posted in bailout, banking, taxpayer issues, Wall Street | 2 Comments »
Friday, April 17th, 2009
CNN and other left wing media organizations tried to write-off the "tea party" protests as some sort of manufactured right-wing conspiracy. They totally missed the point. Sure, lots of right-wing organizations promoted the tea parties, but listen to the message. The people who attended are sick of big government period. ...
Posted in bailout, media, politics, taxpayer issues | 34 Comments »
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009
(Reader Note: This is Part 2 of OA's discussion of Goldman's results. See Part 1 here).
It's been awhile since there was good news to report from the banking sector. Goldman offered a little today, raising $5 billion in a sale of common stock to investors. The banking system won't be ...
Posted in banking, leverage, stocks, taxpayer issues, Wall Street | 4 Comments »
Sunday, April 12th, 2009
Reader CB was kind enough to share a (very) short video clip of the "New Way Forward" protest rally in Chicago yesterday.
Posted in banking, taxpayer issues, Wall Street | 2 Comments »
Sunday, April 12th, 2009
Big kudos to the the Boston Globe for some great reporting recently. They reported on PBGC's shift into stocks at the worst possible moment. Today they published a great interview with Elizabeth Warren, Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel, which oversees TARP. OA noted last week that Warren is clearly ...
Posted in taxpayer issues, treasury | 3 Comments »
Friday, April 10th, 2009
This planned nationwide protest should appeal to populists on the left and free marketers on the right, both of which object to the Chinese-water-torture bailouts keeping legacy banks afloat.
The organizers have exactly the right idea to solve the bank crisis:
NATIONALIZE: Experts agree on the means -- Insolvent banks that are ...
Posted in banking, taxpayer issues, Wall Street | 4 Comments »
Thursday, April 9th, 2009
NY1 has Hizzoner talking tough on spending. He has proposed thousands of layoffs for city employees unless they agree to substantial cuts...
"We cannot continue. Pension costs and health care costs for our employees are going to bankrupt this city."
By law, NYC is required to have a balanced budget. So far ...
Posted in taxpayer issues | No Comments »
Monday, April 6th, 2009
[Reader note: I thought it useful to add commentary around the FDIC data. Those that would prefer to skip straight to it, see the chart and read paragraphs 4-9].
Conventional wisdom says that financial companies are having trouble borrowing because credit markets are broken. This is dangerously wrong. The ...
Posted in bailout, banking, debt, FDIC, taxpayer issues | 16 Comments »
Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
I will be updating this info each week in order to track fiscal and monetary policy from a bird's eye view. (For those interested, a tutorial regarding this data here.)
According to the Treasury Dept., Total U.S. Public Debt Outstanding increased $72.8 billion to $11.1 trillion since last week.
(Click chart ...
Posted in debt, Fed, taxpayer issues | 2 Comments »
Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
Here's an interesting article from the NY Post, quoting a shareholder letter from Bridgewater's Ray Dalio. It suggests one half of the Geithner plan is likely to attract far less private interest than the other:
Bridgewater Associates, the $71 billion money-management firm, has come out against participating in Treasury Secretary Tim ...
Posted in banking, leverage, taxpayer issues | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
[Reader Note: FDIC is soliciting public comments on its Legacy Loans Program. Below is the letter I sent them this morning. For those interested in signing this letter, I have created an online petition.]
TO: LLPComments@fdic.gov
RE: Legacy Loans Program
To Whom it may concern:
I write to urge you NOT to institute the ...
Posted in banking, FDIC, taxpayer issues | 8 Comments »
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
According to the Boston Globe, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation approved a more aggressive allocation of fund assets at just about the worst possible moment. (HT Michael W.)
Just months before the start of last year's stock market collapse, the federal agency that insures the retirement funds of 44 million Americans ...
Posted in bankruptcy, government spending, taxpayer issues | 4 Comments »
Friday, March 27th, 2009
We're not quite as healthy as we thought we were. Oops. (WSJ)
J.P. Morgan Chase Chief Executive James Dimon said...that March was a little tougher than the first two months of the year....Bank of America...CEO Kenneth Lewis also said that March had been a tougher month for his bank. ...
Posted in banking, Economy, FDIC, leverage, politics, taxpayer issues | 5 Comments »
Thursday, March 26th, 2009
I will be updating this info each week in order to track fiscal and monetary policy from a bird's eye view. (For those interested, a tutorial regarding this data from last week's post.)
According to the Treasury Dept., Total U.S. Public Debt Outstanding increased $12.7 billion since last week.
(Click charts to ...
Posted in debt, Fed, inflation, taxpayer issues | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
On the heels of Britain's failed debt auction today, our Treasury had its own trouble selling bonds. WSJ:
The indirect bid -- demand from domestic and foreign institutions, including foreign central banks -- for the $34 billion five-year Treasury note auction was 30%, compared to 48.9% from the previous auction in ...
Posted in debt, government spending, taxpayer issues | 13 Comments »
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
Here's the press release from the Treasury Dept. I've created a simple chart below to explain the plan. Click to enlarge it.
There are a few things that should be highlighted, in particular the amount of leverage being provided by government and the fact that these partnerships will be able to ...
Posted in bailout, banking, FDIC, Fed, leverage, taxpayer issues | 1 Comment »
Sunday, March 22nd, 2009
According to the NYT, the administration is considering all kinds of new rules in the wake of the AIG bonus scandal. These include tougher rules for mortgage lenders, new oversight powers for the Fed, and a new exchange/clearinghouse for derivatives trading. Most interesting in terms of intra-governmental politics, ...
Posted in bailout, banking, politics, taxpayer issues | 3 Comments »
