Bank stock purchase pushed; no to protectionism Associated Press, October 12, 2008
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told international leaders on Sunday that isolationism and protectionism could worsen the spreading financial crisis.
U.S. lawmakers urged quick action by the Bush administration on measures to make direct purchases of bank stock to help unlock lending.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said an administration proposal to inject federal money directly into certain banks, in effect partially nationalizing the banking system, is gaining steam.
I am hopeful that tomorrow, the Treasury will announce that they're doing it. And they have to do it quickly...markets are waiting, Schumer, D-N.Y., said.
Democrats also are lining up behind House Speaker Nancy Pelosis plan to bring lawmakers back to Capitol Hill after the Nov. 4 election to work on a second economic relief plan.
The idea is give the middle class and the average citizen the same kind of relief that we try to give the financial sector, said Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.
Top Democrats are suggesting a $150 billion measure that would:
extend jobless benefits,
provide more money for food stamps and
finance some construction projects, such as rebuilding bridges and roads.
It would also include either a tax rebate or tax cut.
Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the second-ranking House Republican, said he would help on a plan that:
makes sense but
is not laden with huge public works projects or
bailouts for states that overspent on social programs.
In another step aimed at easing the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve on Sunday approved the $12.2 billion acquisition of troubled Wachovia Corp. by Wells Fargo & Co.
Paulson warned the bank's policy-setting committee of the dangers of inward-looking policies.
Although are taking extraordinary measures to ease the crisis, we are not pursuing policies that would limit the flow of goods, services or capital.
Paulson has indicated the administration will use part of the recent $700 billion bailout to have the government take ownership stakes in banks.
The plan has wide support on Capitol Hill, although Democrats pressed for quicker action in spelling out specifics.
Battered financial industry faces more oversight Associated Press, October 5, 2008
With the passage of the $700 billion rescue package, the financial industry will face greater congressional scrutiny in coming weeks and months.
Having passed the bailout bill, Congress is now shifting its attention to its next steps.
Hearings that begin Monday will examine the failures of current regulations.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold two hearings on:
the causes and effects of Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and
the $85 billion bailout of the giant insurer American International Group Inc.
The committee will hold three more hearings this month on:
hedge funds,
credit rating agencies and
the role of regulators in the run-up to the crisis.
The House Agriculture Committee, which has some oversight of commodities and futures trading, plans to hold a hearing this month on a class of derivatives known as credit default swaps.
AIG held huge amounts of credit default swaps, which act as insurance against bond defaults.
The prospect that AIG wouldnt be able to pay out the swaps was a major reason the government took over the company.
Hedge funds, which invest huge pools of money for wealthy investors and pension funds, are part of what some analysts call the shadow banking system that also included investment banks such as Lehman.
The shadow system provided the capital for many subprime mortgage brokers by:
buying huge amounts of mortgage-backed securities and
creating demand for more mortgage loans.
Industry lobbyists will push to consolidate the numerous financial regulatory agencies, similar to a proposal outlined by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson earlier this year.
To prevent future meltdowns, they want the Federal Reserve to focus on systemic risk, or the risk that individual banks pose to the larger financial system [rather than] on individual banks in isolation.
Business groups will push to loosen accounting standards they blame for deepening the current crisis. Some consumer groups argue [for] having regulators enforce existing rules more strictly.
If regulators had cracked down on abusive lending practices in the mortgage industry several years ago, much of the current meltdown could have been avoided, said Travis Plunkett, legislative director for the Consumer Federation of America.
It was a failure of will on the part of existing agencies to use their existing authority that triggered this crisis, Plunkett said.
Only this summer did the Federal Reserve issue rules that barred lenders from making loans to risky borrowers without proof of the borrower's income.
Plunkett said Congress should allow individual mortgages to be adjusted by judges in bankruptcy courts, a proposal opposed by the financial industry.
Consumer groups sought to include such a provision in the bailout bill but failed.
Many regulatory agencies receive some of their funding from fees assessed on the companies they regulate, Plunkett said.
Thats a conflict of interest we need to reduce or eliminate.
Congress will also have to figure out the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants taken over by the government last month after sustaining huge losses.
There's a broad consensus that the two companies hybrid structure as:
government-backed entities and
for-profit private companies
put them in the difficult spot of serving two conflicting goals:
provide financial support for the housing market while
maximizing shareholder profit.
The two companies could:
end up as much smaller federal agencies, or
be fully privatized, among other options.
The next set of officials at financial agencies such as the Office of Thrift Supervision, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Securities and Exchange Commission will likely be much tougher.