Hot Docs: Treasury's Plan to Spark Investment in Toxic Assets
Today's selection of timely reports
Treasury Tries to Spark Investment in Toxic Assets: In a move designed to get troubled assets off bank books and free up lending, the Treasury Department announces a program to use about $100 billion in federal funds to team with private investors to purchase the so-called legacy assets. The Public-Private Investment Program "will generate $500 billion in purchasing power to buy legacy assets—with the potential to expand to $1 trillion over time." As the Treasury Department sees it, the assets "create uncertainty around the balance sheets of these financial institutions, compromising their ability to raise capital and their willingness to increase lending." The program joins a growing list of initiatives announced by Treasury. Those programs include help for homeowners trying to avoid foreclosure, aid for small businesses, and a program for banks to ensure they have the capital they need should the recession worsen.
Firearms Caused Most Violent Deaths in 2006: Of the 15,395 violent deaths tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2006, 48.2 percent were caused by firearms, 20.4 percent by poisoning, and 13.3 percent by hanging, strangulation, or suffocation. The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report notes that 16 states were participating in the National Violent Death Reporting System in 2006, a system that began in 2003 with just seven states and that the CDC envisions will eventually include all states and the District of Columbia. Other findings include that suicides accounted for 55.9 percent of the deaths, followed by homicides and deaths involving law enforcement. Suicide rates were highest for males, and males ages 35 to 64 accounted for 55.6 percent of those suicides. Among females, those 35 to 64 accounted for 65.5 percent of suicides of females.
The Future of the U.S.-South Korean Alliance: In order to continue their strong alliance, the United States and South Korea need diplomacy that includes "sustained dialogue, cooperation, and transparency." In "Going Global: The Future of the U.S.-South Korea Alliance," the Center for a New American Security notes that the two countries have "one of the most formidable and durable military alliances in the world" and one that has seen South Korea transform from a war-ravaged dictatorship to a wealthy democracy. The independent, nonpartisan group spent a year compiling the report, which, among other things, warns about taking an "anything but Bush" approach to the relationship. "President Bush [bequeathed] a strong partnership with President Lee, which will be critical to any attempt to transform the alliance. High-level attention is key to allay South Korean fears of American neglect and perceptions of abandonment."
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Reader Comments
Toxic Asset Investment Fund
In order to attract proper investment, I would think that either the government guarantee would greatly minimize risk or the yields extraordinary.
A new info site: http://toxicassetinvestmentfund.com
Truth to the Bailout and how the American People are getting screwed then screwed then screwed.
http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/commentary-mainmenu-43/915
CFR Corporate Members Get Lion's Share of Bailout Funds | Print |
Written by Thomas R. Eddlem
Monday, 23 March 2009 11:30
Newspapers are fixated upon $160 million in bonuses given to American International Group (AIG) executives. And it’s nice to know where the millions are going (note: the bonuses could have been cancelled had the federal government let the company go bankrupt, as officials should have). But where are the trillions in TARP, TALC and Federal Reserve Bank bailout funds going?
The man in charge of administering the bailouts is Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who served as a staff member of the New York City-based Council on Foreign Relations before being hired in 2003 to head the New York City branch of the Federal Reserve Bank (Fed). As the vice chairman of the Fed’s Open Market Committee, Geithner is probably a poor choice to get the nation out of it’s current economic mess. He served as Alan Greenspan’s number two man at the Fed, so Geithner is as responsible as anyone for facilitating the severity of the real estate and financial bubble and its subsequent collapse. After all, the Fed was the driving force behind the asset bubble, inflating the bubble larger and larger through artificially low interest rates and an inflationary easy-money policy.
Under Geithner and his predecessor (former Goldman Sachs CEO Henry “Hank” Paulson), the majority of bailout funds have been awarded to high-level donors to Geithner's former employer: the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).
Here’s a survey of TARP bailout awards to the CFR’s corporate members (there are a total of only a little more than 200 corporate members at all levels):
Among the “Founders,” those who give $100,000 or more to the CFR, can be found:
•American Express Company: $3.389 billion TARP •Goldman Sachs: $10 billion TARP, plus a separate Federal Reserve bailout and more than $13 billion of the allotment to AIG (below) •Merrill Lynch: $45 billion through its corporate parent, Bank of America, which is also a CFR Premium corporate member, plus $6.8 billion of AIG’s bailout funds “President’s Circle” CFR members ($60,000 or more) received the following bailout funds:
•American International Group (AIG): $182 billion in total TARP/TALF funds to date
•Citibank: $50 billion TARP
•Morgan Stanley: $10 billion TARP
Premium members ($30,000 or more to CFR):
•Bank of New York/Mellon Corporation: $3 billion TARP •Freddie Mac: Sharing with Fannie Mae $1.25 trillion — that’s $1,250 billion — in mortgage securities being purchased from the Federal Reserve Bank
•Chrysler: $4 billion TARP, plus $1.5 billion TARP for Chrysler Financial •JP Morgan Chase: $25 billion TARP •CIT Group: $2.33 billion TARP That’s a total of more than $1 trillion in bailout funds for CFR corporate members, easily the lion’s share of the total bailout funds awarded to date. CFR Membership seems to have its
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