Sunday
Mar222009
« Bank Bailout News Video: Ben Bernanke And Sheila Bair Discuss The Banking Crisis »
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke answers questions about the banking crisis. Video runs 5 minutes.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says the government needs to address the too big too fail problem at the Independent Community Bankers of America Convention in Phoenix. Full speech runs 25 minutes.
Head of the FDIC Sheila Bair answers questions about the nation's bank bailout crisis. Video runs 2 minutes.
FDIC chair Sheila Bair discusses the financial crisis and the role of community bankers at the Independent Community Bankers of Association Convention in Phoenix.
Four videos of their speeches Friday before the Independent Community Bankers of Association Convention in Phoenix.
Sunday, March 22, 2009 at 12:02PM
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FDIC CHIEF CHALLENGES GEITHNER, TREASURY PLAN
Just as Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner finds himself wrestling with the bear that's mauling the US economy, he's also tussling with another: Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03202009/business/bair_breaks_ranks_160395.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/business/economy/21fed.html?_r=1
Citigroup Inc. defended the continuing redesign of the executive floors of its New York headquarters, estimating that the project will "generate savings in the next few years well in excess of the project costs."
Separately, the company is seeking to do a "reverse split" of its shares, which would have the effect of boosting the stock price, which recently slid close to $1 apiece, breaching that level in intraday trade.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123746075961583107.html#mod=residential_real_estate
The plan is likely to offer generous subsidies, in the form of low-interest loans, to coax investors to form partnerships with the government to buy toxic assets from banks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/business/21bank.html?em
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/business/21nocera.html?em
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_lewis&sid=atlHxXH7FweQ
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/22/tv-soundoff-sunday-talkin_n_177724.html
Why South Carolina Doesn't Want 'Stimulus'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123759827524401409.html
“I know that no president has missed his first Gridiron since Grover Cleveland. Of course, President Cleveland really did have better things to do on a Saturday night. When he was in the White House -- he was married to a 21 year old woman. … I understand these are dark days for the newspaper business, but I hate it when people say that newspapers are obsolete. That’s totally untrue. I know from firsthand experience. I recently got a puppy, and you can’t housebreak a puppy on the Internet.
Vice President Biden at Gridiron, on Easter and the President (whispering): 'He thinks it’s about him'
http://www.politico.com/playbook/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1163778/Youre-Googling-The-Blairs-House-Commons-Google-boss-wont-THEIR-privacy-invaded-Street-View.html
now, if it was Cheney?? " you can't eat a puppy with the internet "
Rumsfeld?? " you can't torture a puppy with the internet "
Bush?? ' The internets can't practice their..love with puppy's "
PEACE
http://fargoneworld.blogspot.com
I'm calling bullshit on this one. No one in Washington gives a rat's patooty about the finer points of the law. They can do, and do do (indeed), whatever they want, when they want. There is no reason under the sun that Sheila and the boys couldn't have converted AIG into a bank, just like they did the investment banks, and then shut it down. What baloney. And they still haven't resolved Citi and BAC and they have the express authority and OBLIGATION to do precisely that. Sheila Bair is no "heroine" as I heard someone describe her recently. I love Chris Whalen, but Sheila's gotta go, too.
Funny stuff.
@ James
Good points. They run roughshod over the law when it serves their interest.
I think Whalen should be Treasury Secretary. Not sure if anyone knows the banks as well as he does.
My economic dream team would include Chris Whalen as Treasury Secretary and Walstreetpro2 at the god damn mutha fuckin' Fedral Resarve.
BTW, did you see Whalen's testimony at the SBC today? The written statement is on the IRA site, but do you know if there's video?
Walstreetpro running the fed is classic. There would be gold and more gold and everyone would be out of a job. A nice change.
Here's teh link to Whalen's testimony and also the link to cspan. I don't have time at the moment to find it.
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/
http://www.rcwhalen.com/pdf/StatementbyChristopherWhalen_SBC_032409.pdf
Awesome. Hadn't thought to check C-Span.
Also, I'm new to this site, but did you happen to cover the Matt Taibbi piece in Rolling Stone? I saw some excerpts quoted just this morning and apparently good ol' Matt talked to a "government official" who was there at the original bailout of AIG and he said that the idea they couldn't shut AIG down was, and I quote, "bullshit." Wow. I hadn't read the piece before, but that's pretty damning stuff. Now, maybe -- just maybe -- Bernanke and the boys really were scared shitless about what AIG would set off in terms of CDS's, but that also means they've carefully orchestrated a whole spate of lies over the last few weeks saying "We didn't have the regulatory... blah blah blah..."