The entire explosive LIBOR-gate package has "Barack Obama and Tim Geithner" written all over it, and could well explode right under Obama's political nose before the Sept. 3 Democratic Convention. . .READ MORE
Rumors are running wild from Washington to Wall Street that the Obama administration is about to order government-controlled lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to forgive a portion of the mortgage debt of millions of Americans who owe more than what their homes are worth. An estimated 15 million U.S. mortgages – one in five – are underwater with negative equity of some $800 billion. Recall that on Christmas Eve 2009, the Treasury Department waived a $400 billion limit on financial assistance to Fannie and Freddie, pledging unlimited help. The actual vehicle for the bailout could be the Bush-era Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP, a sister program to Obama’s loan modification effort. HARP was just extended through June 30, 2011.Read more
The move, if it happens, would be a stunning political and economic bombshell less than 100 days before a midterm election in which Democrats are currently expected to suffer massive, if not historic losses. The key date to watch is August 17 when the Treasury Department holds a much-hyped meeting on the future of Fannie and Freddie. A few key points:
The most crucial element in the re-regulation of Wall Street has been gutted. At least for now, there will be no limits on how much money Wall Street can borrow to do its business. It's an invitation to dare a new meltdown or financial crisis. The big banks' lobbyists have convinced Treasury and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, not to support Rep Barney Frank's, D-Mass., insistence on limiting the leverage Wall Street can use to trade securities.Treasury, Dodd Sell Out To Wall Street
Americans are about to re-learn that bank deposit insurance isn't free, even as Washington is doing its best to delay the coming bailout. The banking system and the federal fisc would both be better off in the long run if the political class owned up to the reality.The Coming Deposit Insurance Bailout
We're referring to the federal deposit insurance fund, which has been shrinking faster than reservoirs in the California drought.
Just when you think the political class may have learned something in months of trying to fix the banking system, the ghost of Hank Paulson returns to haunt the Treasury. The latest Beltway blunder -- and it would be a big one -- is the Obama Administration's weekend news leak that it may insist on converting its preferred shares in some of the nation's largest banks into common equity.See Timmy run: A Backdoor Nationalization
In March, Steven Rattner, the leader of the Obama Administration's auto task force, was the man who sat face to face with General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner at a Treasury Department meeting, and fired him.Read more
Now it's Rattner's turn on the hot seat.
Sending out nice, fat checks from the U.S. Treasury is an idea that goes back at least to the failed presidential campaign of George McGovern in 1972. But for a tax cut to have any real stimulative effect on productivity, it must serve to reward that productivity: the more you produce (i.e., earn), the bigger your tax cut.Investor's Business Daily
Alias Barack Obama: a lie is born: The greatest identity fraud in history Paperback – July 10, 2012
