TARP

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Advertising With TARP Funds Is Tricky Business

The public increasingly is taking a hard look at how TARP funds are spent

(Newser) - Companies that received TARP funds are being forced to deal with some unexpected fallout: the ire of taxpayers who see sponsorships and ad campaigns as frivolous wastes of rescue dollars, reports Advertising Age. But execs at those companies say that to pay back those borrowed monies, they must develop new...

Panel: Paulson Overpaid for Bank Stocks

Treasury spent $254B for a $176B value, Congress learns

(Newser) - Henry Paulson overpaid for the preferred stock he bought from banks with TARP funds, after promising Congress he wouldn’t, a congressional oversight panel says. The government handed banks $254 billion in exchange for stock that was then worth just $176 billion, the Washington Post reports. “Treasury simply did...

Citi's Mets Deal Makes Sense in the Long Run
Citi's Mets Deal Makes Sense in the Long Run
OPINION
Feb 4, 2009 2:31 PM CST

Citi's Mets Deal Makes Sense in the Long Run

$400M, over decades, will generate lots of publicity, help pay back bailout funds

(Newser) - Citi’s $400 million naming-rights deal with the New York Mets may seem “tone-deaf and stupid” after the bank took $45 billion in bailout funds, Daniel Gross writes in Newsweek—but it’s a good idea. “Companies—even companies getting bailed out by the feds—need to attract...

C'mon, Mr Prez, Nobody Will Run Bank for $500K
C'mon, Mr Prez, Nobody Will Run Bank for $500K
OPINION
Feb 4, 2009 12:34 PM CST

C'mon, Mr Prez, Nobody Will Run Bank for $500K

Obama, after pledge to be above the noise, falls prey to it instead

(Newser) - Sure, bankers make too much money, but President Obama’s ceiling “is just a misguided attempt to quiet the peanut gallery,” writes Megan Barnett in Portfolio. The $500,000-per-year executive cap will discourage banks from taking needed government cash, and drive away top talent. “Money is what...

Obama Puts $500K Limit on Exec Pay at Bailout Firms

(Newser) - Executives at companies that get “exceptional help” from the federal government are in for a big pay cut, President Obama announced today. Top-level executives will have salaries capped at $500,000, Obama said, “a fraction of the salaries that have been reported recently.” The only other compensation...

Obama May Cap Pay of Bailed-Out Execs at $500K

Pay to be capped at $500,000, bonuses canceled

(Newser) - The Obama administration plans to announce sharp new limits today on how much executives of bailed-out companies can make, the New York Times reports. The rules, still being hammered out, would cap the pay of top executives at $500,000 and bar them from receiving any bonuses apart from normal...

Bailout Firms Lobbied Big Time for TARP Funds

Spending on charities, sponsored meetings topped $330,000

(Newser) - Several of the firms who would receive taxpayer funds from the TARP bailout spent money on meetings and charitable gifts that benefited lawmakers, the Hill reports. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, for example, donated $330,000 in the last 6 months of 2008 to politically affiliated charities. Bank of America,...

No Golden Toilets; Liberals Are On the Case
No Golden Toilets; Liberals Are On the Case
OPINION
Feb 3, 2009 12:04 PM CST

No Golden Toilets; Liberals Are On the Case

The rules have changed for the über-rich: Brooks

(Newser) - David Brooks is worried about the rich people. Consider poor John Thain. One minute, it was OK to spend $35,000 on a commode, the next it was an embarrassment, Brooks opines in the New York Times. The same shame could befall countless billionaires who don’t realize the rules...

Citi May Bail on $400M Marketing Deal With Mets

The call to spend taxpayer money more wisely may overshadow agreement

(Newser) - Citigroup, trying to duck controversy over its use of taxpayer bailout dollars, is considering  reneging on a $400 million marketing deal with the New York Mets, the Wall Street Journal reports. The 20-year partnership—which includes naming the Mets new stadium Citi Field—may be scratched because Citi accepted $45...

Feds May Curb Pay at Rescued Financial Firms

Administration hopes move will bolster flagging bailout support

(Newser) - Seeking to curry public favor, the Obama administration is weighing pay cuts for executives at financial institutions that receive government aid, the Wall Street Journal reports. The move would apply to firms receiving “exceptional” help—a term not clearly defined but seemingly along the lines of that given to...

Wall St. Braces for Lower Pay, Less Risk-Taking

Gov't, public pressure forces shift in expectations

(Newser) - With the new president joining the chorus of outrage against bonuses for bailed-out Wall Street firms, bankers are grappling with the notion that long-held pay expectations will have to change, the Wall Street Journal reports. Eager to avert government crackdown, firms are expected to shrink and perhaps defer bonuses, to...

Geithner Cracks Down on Bailout Lobbyists

(Newser) - Timothy Geithner announced new rules cracking down on lobbyist influence over government bailout funds today, the Wall Street Journal reports. “American taxpayers deserve to know that their money is spent in the most effective way to stabilize the financial system,” the newly-minted Treasury secretary said. Contact with lobbyists...

Big Banks' Lending Drops Despite Bailout Cash
Big Banks' Lending Drops
Despite Bailout Cash
ANALYSIS
Jan 26, 2009 10:23 AM CST

Big Banks' Lending Drops Despite Bailout Cash

Banks say funds can't go straight to loans, and recession cuts down on would-be borrowers

(Newser) - Lending is down at some of the biggest beneficiaries of the $148 billion the Treasury hoped would get US banks lending again, the Wall Street Journal reports. Of 13 banks to receive major government backing, 10 saw a decline in their outstanding loan balances between the third and fourth quarters...

Bailout Bucks Go to Lobbyists
 Bailout Bucks Go to Lobbyists 
Jan 24, 2009 6:59 AM CST

Bailout Bucks Go to Lobbyists

Bailed-out firms' spending on lobbying threatens to spark government backlash

(Newser) - A surprising number of firms that reaped billions in bailout funds from the government have been spending big to lobby the government for more, the New York Times reports. Citigroup, General Motors, and at least seven others have paid lobbyists millions since October. Some recipients actually increased the amount they...

Pols Sending TARP Funds to Home State Banks

Frank, others pull strings for bailout funds

(Newser) - Only healthy banks are supposed to get TARP funds, and OneUnited Bank in Boston is not a healthy bank. So why did it wind up pocketing a $12 million infusion from the Treasury? Because powerful Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank interceded for it, the Wall Street Journal reports. Bankers, regulators, and...

Geithner's Nomination Is Unlikely to Fail
Geithner's Nomination Is Unlikely to Fail
ANALYSIS
Jan 21, 2009 8:44 AM CST

Geithner's Nomination Is Unlikely to Fail

Taxes, schmaxes: Senate wants to know if he can fix economy

(Newser) - The herculean task awaiting Timothy Geithner is so critical to the nation that a niggling detail like unpaid taxes is unlikely to derail his bid to head up the Treasury Department, writes Deborah Solomon in the Wall Street Journal. While senators will likely press Geithner about his missteps during his...

Obama Team Warns: No Magic Wand for Banks

Geithner will testify without a plan, take time to get it right

(Newser) - While the world watched Barack Obama take the oath of office yesterday, on Wall Street shares in the big banks plummeted as much as 29% as the markets took the worst pounding in inaugural history. Yet when Tim Geithner appears before a Senate committee today, the incoming Treasury secretary will...

Soros Blasts 'Haphazard' Bailout

Billionaire calls for radical next phase to stave off Depression

(Newser) - The first bailout was bungled and the new $850 billion stimulus package under consideration will help keep social services ticking but won't be enough to save the slumping economy,  billionaire philanthropist George Soros warned the US Conference of Mayors yesterday. He slammed the "haphazard" handling of the...

Chrysler's Loan Arm Gets $1.5B Federal Loan

Attempt to unfreeze auto-loan market is on top of $17B coming to Detroit from TARP

(Newser) - The Treasury Department will lend Chrysler’s financing arm $1.5 billion to encourage the struggling auto-loan market, the Washington Post reports today. The 5-year loan comes at an interest rate of about 1.36%, and carries limits on executive compensation: Chrysler Financial will have to cut its bonus pool...

'Bad Bank' for Toxic Assets Among Feds' TARP Options

Paulson, Bair show support creating federally sponsored institution

(Newser) - Support is growing for the latest proposed use of bailout funds: a federally sponsored “bad bank” to purchase toxic assets from troubled financial institutions, Bloomberg reports. “A lot of work has been done on an aggregator bank,” Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said today; FDIC chief Sheila Bair...

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