Paulson says troubled assets will not be purchased

[BornAgain123]

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081112/financial_meltdown.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Wednesday the $700 billion government rescue program will not be used to purchase troubled assets as originally planned.

Paulson said the administration will continue to use $250 billion of the program to purchase stock in banks as a way to bolster their balance sheets and encourage them to resume more normal lending.

He announced a new goal for the program to support financial markets, which supply consumer credit in such areas as credit card debt, auto loans and student loans............

[lovinlife4]

So what does all this mean exactly? We really have no say in any of this do we?

[Holding Pattern]

We never did. They told us in the beginning that one of the stipulations was that the destination of the money be secret...so, I guess in all fairness they did tell us that they weren't going to tell us.

[Sundial]

I'm glad I won't be around to balance the national budget. I was never good in math. :hehee

[BornAgain123]

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081112/wall_street.html

NEW YORK (AP) -- An already disheartened Wall Street turned sharply lower Wednesday after Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the government won't buy banks' soured mortgage assets after all, disappointing investors who hoped to see the bad debt wiped off companies' books. The Dow Jones industrials fell more than 270 points, and all the major indexes dropped more than 3 percent as the market retreated for a third straight session.

Paulson said the government's $700 billion financial rescue package won't purchase troubled assets from banks as originally planned. He said that plan would have taken too much time, and that the Treasury instead will rely on buying stakes in banks and encouraging them to resume more normal lending.

While the market had been pleased by the government's decision weeks ago to buy banks' stock, investors still hoped to see the financial industry relieved of the burden of the mortgage assets whose decline in value helped set off the nation's financial crisis..........

[felixthecat]

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/government/treasury-secretary-paulson-expected-bailout-update/


Barney Franks is VERY UPSET!

Barney said he'd rather support Syria than Countrywide?

I know he said he's rather bailout Syria rather than something else ... .


Lobbyists swarm the U.S. Treasury for a helping of bailout pie
IHT ^ | 11/12/2008 | Mark Landler and David D. Kirkpatrick

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/12/business/12lobbying.php

They're lining up!

This should be fun!

[felixthecat]

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081112/wall_street.html

NEW YORK (AP) -- An already disheartened Wall Street turned sharply lower Wednesday after Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the government won't buy banks' soured mortgage assets after all, disappointing investors who hoped to see the bad debt wiped off companies' books. The Dow Jones industrials fell more than 270 points, and all the major indexes dropped more than 3 percent as the market retreated for a third straight session.

Paulson said the government's $700 billion financial rescue package won't purchase troubled assets from banks as originally planned. He said that plan would have taken too much time, and that the Treasury instead will rely on buying stakes in banks and encouraging them to resume more normal lending.

While the market had been pleased by the government's decision weeks ago to buy banks' stock, investors still hoped to see the financial industry relieved of the burden of the mortgage assets whose decline in value helped set off the nation's financial crisis..........

So we're going to just nationalize banks and encourage them to lend and absorb the bad debt. :thinking I see ... :doh

[felixthecat]

We never did. They told us in the beginning that one of the stipulations was that the destination of the money be secret...so, I guess in all fairness they did tell us that they weren't going to tell us.

I don't think they know yet.

Guess the "crisis" was not the end of the world after all.

The tin cups are coming out - left and right!

Run to Uncle Sam for taxpayer $$$$.

[BornAgain123]

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/126117/Bailout-Price-Tag-3.5T-So-Far-But-'Real'-Cost-May-Be-Much-Higher?tickers=AIG,FNM,FRE,XLF,%5EDJI,%5EGSPC,C

Yes, $3.45 trillion has already been spent, as Bailoutsleuth.com details:

$2T Emergency Fed Loans (the ones the Fed won't discuss, as detailed here)

$700B TARP (designed to buy bad debt, the fund is rapidly transforming as we'll discuss in an upcoming segment)

$300B Hope Now (the government's year-old attempt at mortgage workouts)

$200B Fannie/Freddie

$140B Tax Breaks for Banks (WaPo has the details)

$110B: AIG (with it's new deal this week, the big insurer got $40B of TARP money, plus $110B in other relief)

[SoonAndVerySoon]

The old "Bait and Switch" huh