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Bush Team Reportedly Won’t Request More Bailout Cash
Tweet Share on Facebook November 17, 2008 CommentLooks like the Bush administration is going to punt this issue to Barack Obama:
From Bloomberg:
The Bush administration told congressional aides it won't ask lawmakers to release $350 billion remaining as part of the $700 billion U.S. financial- rescue package, people familiar with the matter said.
The administration of President George W. Bush ends in less than 10 weeks, and a delay in requesting the cash would leave it to President-elect Barack Obama to tap remaining cash in the bailout money.
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Lawmaker Pushing to Freeze Remaining Bailout Funds
Tweet Share on Facebook November 17, 2008 Comment (4)With a good chunk of the $700 billion already spoken for--and a growing list of companies begging for aid--Senator Jim Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma, is circulating the following letter in an attempt to freeze the remaining funds from the initial $350 billion block of bailout cash and require congressional approval before the second $350 billion block can be handed out:
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FDIC Chief Sheila Bair on Her New Anti-Foreclosure Plan
Tweet Share on Facebook November 17, 2008 Comment (5)FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair discussed the details of her new plan to prevent foreclosures during an interview with NPR last week.
Listen to the interview here.
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Freddie Mac May Need $50 Billion From Feds Next Year
Tweet Share on Facebook November 17, 2008 Comment (3)Government-controlled mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac hit up Hank Paulson for $14 billion last week after posting a huge quarterly loss. In a research report issued Monday, FBR Capital Markets analyst Paul Miller says that Treasury can expect additional requests next year:
With continued elevated credit cost and write-downs in mortgage assets, we estimate that earnings losses could reach $20B to $40B in FY09. As a result, the magnitude of necessary capital injections by the Treasury could reach $30B to $50B in FY09 and postpone any thought of spinning [Freddie Mac] back out to the public until FY10.
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Detroit Bailout? Barney Frank Vs. Richard Shelby
Tweet Share on Facebook November 17, 2008 Comment (6)Sen. Richard Shelby, the Alabama Republican who serves as the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, appeared on CBS’s “Face the Nation” this weekend to discuss the possibility of bailing out Detroit’s automakers.
“I think this is a road we should not go down,” Sen. Shelby said.
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Why Sheila Bair is Showing Up Hank Paulson
Tweet Share on Facebook November 14, 2008 Comment (7)The FDIC on Friday released the details of agency chairman Sheila Bair’s new plan to prevent foreclosures. Under the terms of the program, the Feds would reduce mortgage payments for distressed borrowers and share losses if modified mortgages redefault. The agency is hoping that such loan guarantees will entice lenders and servicers to modify loans in greater numbers than they have in the past. The FDIC believes--at a cost of roughly $24 billion to taxpayers--the plan can prevent 1.5 million foreclosures.
Here’s the catch: both Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Neel Kashkari--the agency official overseeing the TARP--have recently expressed opposition to the proposal. So why would a Republican member of the administration continue to push a policy initiative that the Bush team has rejected?
Two reasons:
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Realtor.com Vs. ForSaleByOwner.com
Tweet Share on Facebook November 14, 2008 Comment (5)There’s a fight brewing between the National Association of Realtors and ForSaleByOwner.com--a Web-based company that markets the homes of independent sellers.
NAR says a press release announcing ForSaleByOwner.com’s new service included inaccuracies and misleading statements and has asked for a retraction.
But ForSaleByOwner.com isn't backing down. "We continue to stand by the accuracy of our press release," a company spokesman said in an email message.
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Freddie Mac to Hank Paulson: $14 Billion Please…
Tweet Share on Facebook November 14, 2008 Comment (3)With all this talk about TARP spending, it’s easy to forget about the billions of dollars the government is on the hook for after its decision to seize America’s troubled mortgage-finance behemoths.
Freddie Mac--one half of the government sponsored enterprise duo that was put under conservatorship in September--is hitting up Hank Paulson for nearly $14 billion after a steep third-quarter loss put its net worth into negative territory.
The $25 billion loss was tied to the deteriorating housing market and tax-asset writedowns.
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How Much Bailout Cash has Been Spoken for So Far?
Tweet Share on Facebook November 13, 2008 Comment (6)In a report dated Wednesday, economists at Merrill Lynch outline just how much of the $700 billion bailout cash has been spoken for:
The initial Capital Purchase Program (CPP) was intended to be a $250 billion program within the $700bn TARP program. The initial nine participating banks were promised $125bn in funding. A further $89bn has reportedly been approved as part of the bank capital injection program. This $214bn in funding represents 86% of the original program size. Separately, the Treasury has announced that a further $40bn has been allocated for the purchase of AIG preferred stock. This brings the total amount of TARP funds allocated to $254bn, of which only $115bn has actually been distributed to firms.
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The Top 10 Foreclosure States (as of October)
Tweet Share on Facebook November 13, 2008 Comment (7)RealtyTrac has released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for October:
Foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 279,561 U.S. properties during the month, a 5 percent increase from the previous month and a 25 percent increase from October 2007. The report also shows one in every 452 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing in October
