Re: "Banks revive bonus pledges -- Pay guarantees made by bailout recipients to get federal scrutiny," Monday news story. With the addition of the guaranteed provision for compensation, I don't understand why banks structure them as bonuses. Why not just...
That was the topic of today's editorial that I wrote, and we got a nice response from U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess' office. Here it is. Look for a Letter to the Editor from the congressman later this week....
Former top S&L crisis clean-up man William K. Black says that major banks are insolvent, and that Obama's failure to deal with that inconvenient truth -- and instead to rely on the Democratic Party Wall Streeters who are advising him...
My husband and I have been trying to purchase a home for the past three months. We have been looking at foreclosed homes. Three months later, we have the fourth bid on a third house. Banks will not take our...
If a financial insititution takes a federal bailout, then it is obligated to play by the government's rules. But what if the bank gives back the money? Is this a sign of strength, i.e., that the banks are willing to...
Had a great conversation late last week with Rick Smith of the Texas Bankers Association, who has an interesting take on how the financial crisis is hitting Texas community banks. As I've written before, the FDIC assesses premiums from...
By most measures, last week was a tough one for the Obama administration. The lowlight of note --- the ugly finger-poiinting exchange of "who knew what and when" on the AIG bonuses. But let's take a big step forward and...
Re: "Bank buildings could gain interest -- Vacant branches can be revamped for variety of businesses," Friday Business. A few years back, my husband and I would share an inside joke. Each time we passed an empty lot or saw...
The Obama administration released its plan this morning to buy up toxic assets. The idea is to launch a Public-Private Investment Program to buy, at first, $500 billion worth; some of that money comes from TARP, and a small amount...
Why is President Barack Obama so determined to bail out the big banks while millions of hard-working American families are drowning in credit card debt? If those banks disappeared, so would that debt. Financially struggling Americans were condemned to pay,...
Here's a link (video and transcript) to a fascinating interview Bill Moyers did on Friday with Simon Johnson, a former IMF economist, who talks about the grip that the banking oligarchy has on power in this country. Here's an excerpt:...
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