Prudential’s billions will not pay off AIG’s bailout debt
A $35bn deal with Prudential will not be enough to pay off the insurer’s debt to the US taxpayer
A few billion pounds from the man from the Pru will help. But even after offloading its Asian business, AIA, to Britain’s Prudential for $35.5bn (£23bn), the US insurer AIG faces an epic struggle to pay back [...]
Obama and the ’savvy’ bankers | Dean Baker
In an interview, the US president described the Goldman Sachs CEO as ’savvy’. So how did he and his crew use their wisdom?
Last week, when President Obama was asked about the $9m dollar bonus for Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, he described Blankfein as a savvy businessman, adding that Americans don’t begrudge people being rewarded [...]
Time to go Tim Geithner | Richard Adams
It’s time for Barack Obama to fire Timothy Geithner and hire a Treasury secretary who can sell his economic policies
When President Obama entered the chamber at the start of last night’s state of the union address, he made a beeline for Timothy Geithner and gave him a hug. The Treasury secretary looked like he needed [...]
Extend bank tax to do the business | Dean Baker
A speculation tax would not just claw back billions lost in bailouts – it would make the financial sector more efficient and productive
President Obama proposed a tax on the country’s largest banks to help recover the money lost under the Troubled Assets Relief Programme (Tarp). This tax is a positive step. However, it will not [...]
Emergency $85bn bailout of insurer AIG was botched, says report
The US government executed an emergency bailout of troubled AIG without sufficient planning, botching its initial $85bn (£50bn) effort to rescue the ailing business and further weakening the multinational insurer’s financial position, according to a critical official report into last year’s near collapse of the company.
An inspector charged with overseeing the treasury’s bail-out efforts concludes [...]
Wall Street adds insult to injury | Dean Baker
Bailed-out bankers don’t deserve million-dollar salaries, no matter how much they complain about limits on executive pay
Most people would have little difficulty getting by on $200,000 a year. Most people who had badly messed up on their job and put their employer in bankruptcy would be absolutely delighted to find themselves still earning $200,000 a [...]
Wall Street faces double pay blow
• ‘Pay tsar’ to cap salaries at $500,000 at bailed-out firms• Fed to tackle rewards for ‘imprudent risks’
Leading US banks will be subject to a dual crackdown on multimillion dollar pay packets, as the Federal Reserve set out broad plans to scrutinise remuneration and the Obama administration’s so-called “pay tsar” confirmed that salaries will be [...]
Obama administration plans big pay cuts at seven bailout firms
Companies that received most assistance will have to cut salaries of 25 highest-paid executives by about 90%
The Obama administration plans to order companies that received huge US government bailouts last year to sharply cut the compensation of their highest paid executives, according to a person familiar with the decision.
The seven companies that received the most [...]
$138bn bail out agreed for Bank of America
The struggling Bank of America today was guaranteed funds to help then through the financial crisis. The Government had to step in today to help the Bank of America as they have seen losses that has never been recorded before. US government have put plans in to place today to allow up to $20 billion [...]
