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naked capitalism
naked capitalism (nakedcapitalism.com) has great United States Department of the Treasury news, photos, videos and more
Monday, Jul 27
More Bogus Bailout Reporting: "As Big Banks Repay Bailout Money, U.S. Sees a Profit"
Goldman is a great firm with a stellar culture, and in most circumstances it’s risk management and funding practices have been second to none. Except when the crisis hit. It stood with the rest of Wall Street as a firm with longer-dated, less liquid assets funded with extremely short-dated...
Wednesday, May 6
Guest post: Asia breaks free from Geithner and Summers
In September 1997, Summers was deputy U.S. Treasury secretary and Geithner was just being sworn in as assistant secretary for international affairs. Today, they are director of the White House National Economic Council and Treasury secretary, respectively. Back then, Summers, Geithne...
Thursday, Apr 23
Chrysler End Game: BK Next Week if No Deal (and Journal Says Even if a Deal)
But Chrysler's chief financial officer told major lenders Wednesday that even if a deal can be worked out between the government and lenders, the company still will need to file for bankruptcy to seal a Fiat alliance, said people familiar with the situation. The executive, Ron Kolka, tol...
Thursday, Apr 16
Opinion: Willem Buiter: Treasury Will Have to Abandon Current Approach to Banks
There is just one way to make the US government’s policy towards the banks work. That is for the Congress to vote another $1.5 trillion worth of additional TARP money for the banks - $1 trillion to buy the remaining toxic assets off their balance sheets, and $0.5 trillion worth of additional ca...
Wednesday, Apr 15
"Don’t set Goldman free, Mr Geithner"
Mr Blankfein, the chairman and chief executive of Goldman Sachs, is eager for his institution to become the first big bank to shake off the stifling embrace of the US government. Mr Geithner, the US Treasury secretary, must decide whether to let him.
Monday, Apr 13
Analyst: Wells Fargo to Show $120 Billion in Stress Test Losses
From Bloomberg (hat tip reader Scott): Wells Fargo & Co., the second- biggest U.S. home lender, may need $50 billion to pay back the federal government and cover loan losses as the economic slump deepens, according to KBW Inc.’s Frederick Cannon.
Tuesday, Apr 7
Willem Buiter: "Non-Negligible" Risk of Default by US and UK
When the Chairman of the Fed stands shoulder-to-shoulder or sits side-by-side with the US Treasury Secretary to urge the passing of various budgetary proposals - involving matters both beyond the Fed’s mandate and remit and beyond its competence - the Fed is politicised irretrievabl...
Guest Post: Checkmate for Pensions?
The program will use government funds and private capital to buy up to $1 trillion (683 billion pounds) in distressed loans and securities. Investors would receive low-cost financing from the U.S. government to buy the "legacy" assets at auctions.
Monday, Apr 6
Links 4/7/09
Communities print their own currency to keep cash flowing USA Today (hat tip reader Michael) Sayonara Japan, Hello America! Models and Agents March PMI Data for China Out All Roads Lead to China The US Treasury requests volunteers for suicide; any takers? Willem Buiter
Guest Post: FDIC's Insurance Commitments 34% Higher Than Reported
With this in mind, it is monumentally foolish for our government to be promoting debt expansion, but that is precisely what government "guarantees" are designed to do. They are designed to boost lending. The dirty little secret, as noted above, is that the government has no reserves with w...
Sunday, Mar 29
Guest Post: The Banks Were Profitable In January And February Thanks To... AIG
AIG, knowing it would need to ask for much more capital from the Treasury imminently, decided to throw in the towel, and gifted major bank counter-parties with trades which were egregiously profitable to the banks, and even more egregiously money losing to the U.S. taxpayers, who had to du...
Friday, Mar 27
Guest Post: The new bailouts are an end-run around Congress
As it became obvious that cooperation from Congress wouldn't be forthcoming, Rubin and Summers began to consider plan B. Back in 1934, Congress had given Treasury a pool of money called the "Exchange Stabilization Fund" (or ESF) to help smooth out exchange rates. Sixty years later, the fu...
Wednesday, Mar 25
Willem Buiter Takes Fed and Treasury to Task
Buiter argues that the games the Fed and Treasury are playing, with the Fed providing loans and guarantees that properly should come from the Treasury, is bad for accountability and puts Fed independence at risk. The idea of the Fed chief appearing jointly with the Treasury secretary to p...
Monday, Mar 23
Guest Post: Hedge Fund Socialism?
Krugman called it a recycled idea of former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who later abandoned the "cash for trash" proposal. This is really tails both the government and the private sector win, heads both the government and the private sector lose. We both are going to have, as the sayi...
Fed Rescue Programs: No Exit?
In a recent speech, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser proposed eventually handing over the central bank's assets from targeted credit programs to the Treasury Department to separate itself from fiscal policy. The Fed would get liquid government securit...
Saturday, Mar 21
Investor on Private Public Partnership: "One would have to be a criminal to participate in this"
Citi holds $100mm of face-value securities, carried at $80mm. The market bid on these securities is $30mm. Say with perfect foresight the value of all cash flows is $50mm. I bid Citi $75mm. I put up $2.25mm or 3%, Treasury funds the rest. U.S. Treasury loses $22.75mm
Wednesday, Mar 18
On the Fed's "Shock and Awe"
And if — as seems likely — foreign demand for Treasuries fades long before the US fiscal deficit, the US Treasury will need to sell an awful lot of Treasuries to American investors. For the past several years I have argued that it was almost impossible to overstate the impact of central bank d...
Monday, Mar 16
Guest Post: What Do Pensions Have in Common with AIG?
Because AIG and other big financial institutions claimed that credit default swaps were not insurance but a form of financial security like a stock or a bond, they were not required by regulators to put aside reserves against losses.
Thursday, Mar 12
China's Wen Worries About Safety of Treasuries, Asks for Reassurance
China seems to be pressing for advantage in advance of the upcoming G-20 meetings. From Bloomberg: China, the U.S. government’s largest creditor, is “worried” about its holdings of Treasuries and wants assurances that the investment is safe, Premier Wen Jiabao said.
Monday, Mar 9
Guest Post: In Search Of The Next Big (Widening) Thing
Although created by the Agriculture Department in 1969, the cooperative does not carry any ‘implied’ government guarantee….” The TIER Ratio Liquidity Crunch Downgrade Triggers Summary Disclaimer: Zero Hedge has no holdings in any NRUC securities.
Sunday, Dec 7
Treasury Soliciting Bankruptcy Funding for GM, Chrysler
The government advisers also are looking at ways the Treasury could "prime" other banks making DIP loans, so the government could be paid back before private creditors. Banks are deeply resistant to such steps. Both GM and Chrysler insist they can avoid bankruptcy, warning that option co...
Tuesday, Nov 25
Kiss Those Dividends Goodbye
Tumbling stock prices are also increasing the dividend yield for S&P 500 companies to the highest level in at least 15 years. The 3.8 percent yield, on a weekly basis, is greater than the 3.6 percent return from a 30-year U.S. Treasury.
Federal Reserve, Treasury Announce $800 Billion Plan to Support Consumer Lending
Let's see, Bloomberg said yesterday that the Federal government had committed $7.4 trillion to lending facilities and guarantees. The total is now $8.2 trillion thanks to new programs announced today to aid borrowing by consumers, small businesses, and homeowners.
Sunday, Nov 23
US Trying to Combat Treasury Repo Fails, May Lead to Negative Rates
Now, an industry group is trying to fix the mess, which New York Fed Executive Vice President William Dudley said could cause the U.S. borrowing rates to rise if not rectified. The Treasury Market Practices Group wants to impose a “penalty” on failed trades, a move that may result in borrower...
Wednesday, Nov 19
Japanese Float Idea of the Treasury Selling Yen-Denominated Debt
Japan holds the world's second-largest foreign reserves, totaling about $1 trillion, following China, which has about $2 trillion in forex reserves, including some $600 billion worth of US Treasuries. Japan plans to provide up to $100 billion to the International Monetary Fund, whic...
Monday, Nov 17
Senator Grassley Targets Goldman-Treasury Conflicts, Net Operating Loss Gimmie
Chuck Grassley, the most senior Republican on the Senate finance committee, asked Eric Thorson, inspector-general of the Treasury, to investigate the "independence" of several Treasury officials who formerly worked at Goldman Sachs and serve as advisers to Treasury secretary Han...
Monday, Nov 10
Some False Hope on the Deflation Front
In the U.S., some economists say deflation may occur if market conditions deteriorate much further and job losses proliferate. But Teizo Taya, an adviser for Daiwa Institute of Research and a former policy board member of the Bank of Japan, says it's unlikely that the U.S. will experience Jap...
Sunday, Nov 2
CDS Pricing in Increasing Treasury Default Risk
Moreover, how could the US government ever renege on its debts? After all, it supplies the world’s reserve currency, and the Federal Reserve Chairman reminded us a few years ago of the US authorities’ ability to print money in unlimited quantities. Any “default” would at least be through...
