Tag Archives: Wall Street bailout

It’s a pity no one was there to hear him.

Grayson thinks the Senate finance reform bill is too weak.

By a partisan vote of 59-39, the Senate has passed its sweeping financial reform bill. The legislation aims to prevent a recurrence of the near-meltdown of big Wall Street investment banks and the resulting costly bailouts. It calls for new ways to watch for risks in the financial system and makes it easier to liquidate large failing financial firms. It …

Goldman Sachs, favorite whipping boy of the teabaggers (and just about everybody else), is said to be considering a bonus for its CEO Lloyd Blankfein that may reach $100M. Goldman Sachs, the world’s richest investment bank, is facing a potential political storm over how much it pays its chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein. Bankers in Davos for the World Economic Forum …

Via Los Angeles Times: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was named “Person of the Year” by Time magazine today for leading the “most-powerful, least-understood government force shaping our lives,” Managing Editor Richard Stengel said. Bernanke, 56, was picked for his efforts to shepherd the U.S. out of the biggest economic slump since the Great Depression, Stengel said while announcing the …

(Via – Americablog)

Barney Frank grilled AIG CEO Bill Liddy today and asked for a list of the names of AIG executives that have received post-bailout bonuses. Liddy says he’ll only release the names if Frank guarantees their anonymity. Liddy then goes on to read from a list of death threats made against AIG personnel. Frank refused to promise to shield the names …

Wow, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) didn’t pull any punches when it comes to the AIG execs taking responsibility for the company’s woes. “I suggest, you know, obviously, maybe they ought to be removed,” Grassley said. “But I would suggest the first thing that would make me feel a little bit better toward them if they’d follow the Japanese example and …

Wingnuts around the nation will gather today for symbolic “Boston tea parties” to protest the banking bailout and Obama’s stimulus plan. Protesters will appear at various city landmarks and waterfronts around the nation to lower a ceremonial teabag into the ceremonial mouth of the government. Except in Iowa, where the state says you need an environmental impact study before you …

It looks like the top executives at bailed out firms won’t have to give up that house in the Hamptons after all. Congressional efforts to impose stringent restrictions on executive compensation appeared to be evaporating yesterday as House and Senate negotiators worked to fine-tune the compromise stimulus bill. Provisions to impose a penalty on banks that paid hefty bonuses and …

The Obama administration is planning to impose a $500K annual salary limit for the executives of companies receiving federal bailout money. Executives would also be prohibited from receiving any bonuses above their base pay, except for normal stock dividends. President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner plan to announce the executive compensation plan on Wednesday morning at the White …

Also of note: the insurer of the ditched plane is AIG. (Photo Via – Dealbreaker)

Un-fucking-real. After a marathon negotiating session, the Bush administration agreed early Friday to give Bank of America an additional $20 billion worth of fresh capital to help it stomach the losses at Merrill Lynch, which the company acquired Jan. 1. The funds are in addition to $25 billion in TARP rescue funds Bank of America has already received. The new …

From the Rasmussen Reports: Congress was front and center in the national news last week and the American people were far from impressed. If they could vote to keep or replace the entire Congress, 59% of voters would like to throw them all out and start over again. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 17% would …

And Bush has already signed. Democrats: Yes – 172, No – 63. Republicans: Yes – 91, No -108. The House of Representatives gave final approval on Friday to the $700 billion bailout for the financial system, reversing course to authorize what may be the most expensive government intervention in history. At 1:21 p.m., applause and cheers echoed through the House …

I’m not all that wild about street artist Banksy, but this billboard-sized bit about Wall Street (put up in Soho, I think) made me laugh. Note that “real” graffiti artists have already tagged it with “damn rats.” (Via – Gothamist/Jake Dobkin)