Treasury Department

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Geithner Taking 'Emergency' Debt Ceiling Measures

But gov't can now stay afloat til Aug. 2

(Newser) - Tim Geithner is about to enact some “extraordinary measures” in anticipation of Congress’ failure to boost the debt ceiling by May 16, he wrote in a pointed open letter to John Boehner yesterday. These measures, coupled with “stronger than expected tax receipts” will allow him to stay afloat...

Treasury Preparing to Hit Debt Limit

Government might stop paying troops, Social Security recipients

(Newser) - The Obama administration is loudly warning that failure to raise the debt ceiling would be an economic catastrophe —but it’s also quietly bracing itself for that possibility, scrounging under the proverbial couch cushions for cash. Timothy Geithner has already drained a $200 billion special account at the Federal...

Treasury to Sell Off $142B in Toxic Assets, Make Billions

'Notably improved' market means $15B-$20B profit for taxpayers

(Newser) - The Treasury Department will start selling the $142 billion portfolio of mortgage-backed securities, the "toxic" assets it bought up during the financial crisis , the Wall Street Journal reports. The securities are mostly 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. And having bought the securities...

Obama Names Gene Sperling Top Economic Adviser
Obama Names Gene Sperling
Top Economic Adviser
UPDATED

Obama Names Gene Sperling Top Economic Adviser

He's done the job before, under Clinton

(Newser) - President Obama named current Treasury adviser Gene Sperling as his next top economic aide today, taking over for Larry Summers as director of the National Economic Council, the AP reports. It’s familiar territory, the Los Angeles Times adds: Sperling had the same job under Bill Clinton, and he faced...

98 TARP-Funded Banks Risk Failure
98 TARP-Funded Banks
Risk Failure

98 TARP-Funded Banks Risk Failure

Smaller banks under stress, finds WSJ analysis

(Newser) - Some 98 US banks that received government bailout cash may be at risk of failing under the weight of bad loans and eroding capital, a Wall Street Journal analysis of third-quarter data finds. That's up from 86 in the second quarter. The 98 at-risk institutions received $4.2 billion in...

US Lets Companies Deal With Nations on Terror List

Iran, others, get flow of American goods ... like gum and workout equipment

(Newser) - The US has given thousands of corporations the go-ahead to do business with Iran and other nations supposedly blacklisted as “state sponsors of terrorism.” A little-known Treasure office has been issuing licenses—nearly 10,000 to date—under a 2000 law requiring that agricultural and medical humanitarian aid...

Taxpayers Will Score $12B on Citigroup Bailout: Treasury

Government strikes deal to sell remaining 2.4B shares

(Newser) - Taxpayers will wind up making out like bandits on their $45 billion bailout of Citigroup. The Treasury Department has struck a deal to sell its remaining 2.4 billion shares of Citigroup for $4.35 a share, it announced yesterday, bringing the total money made off such sales to $57...

Feds Quarantine $110B in Potentially Defective $100 Bills

New security features caused wide-scale printing problem

(Newser) - The new $100 bills were designed to thwart counterfeiters—but instead, the complex process required to create the high-tech bills has thwarted printers, resulting in $110 billion in currently unusable bills. The new hundreds, planned for roll-out in February, include a 3D security strip and color-shifting bell image—and producing...

Bailout May End Up Costing $0

Despised TARP expires Sunday

(Newser) - The terms "$700 billion" and "bailout" are paired as often as "Tea" and "Party," but it turns out that the government lifeline to banks and auto firms will only cost taxpayers a fraction of what was originally predicted. The hugely unpopular Troubled Asset Relief Program—...

AIG Reaches Deal to Repay Government
AIG Reaches Deal to Repay Government

AIG Reaches Deal to Repay Government

US will eventually no longer own the company

(Newser) - AIG said today it's reached a deal to repay billions of dollars it received during the credit crisis. The plan could return a profit to taxpayers who footed the bill for AIG's near collapse in September 2008 and will eventually remove the government as majority owner. AIG became a lightning...

AIG Exit Plan Speeds Up Taxpayer Payback

Sale of US shares could start next year

(Newser) - The Treasury and AIG are negotiating a plan that will allow the government to sell off its massive stake in the insurance company and repay taxpayers in full—over several years. Under the plan, the US would convert its $49 billion in preferred shares into common shares, likely increasing the...

US Debt to Hit $19.6 Trillion By 2015

Debt on course to exceed GDP for first time

(Newser) - America's national debt is now at a dizzying $13.6 trillion and will reach $19.6 trillion in 5 years, according to a Treasury Department report. By 2015 the debt will, for the first time, exceed the value of all goods and services produced in America in a year, reaching...

Schumer Vows to Battle Carry-On Fee
Schumer Vows to Battle Carry-On Fee

Schumer Vows to Battle Carry-On Fee

Senator calls airline's new bag charge 'slap in the face to travelers'

(Newser) - Charles Schumer said today he's trying to get the federal government to prohibit airlines from charging a fee for carry-on baggage, calling it a "slap in the face to travelers." The Democratic senator from New York is making a personal plea to the Treasury Department to rule that...

Larry Summers Will Be Gone by Year's End
Larry Summers Will Be Gone
by Year's End
ANALYSIS

Larry Summers Will Be Gone by Year's End

Adviser irked that Geithner, not he, has Obama's ear

(Newser) - Economics guru Larry Summers will be out the Obama administration by November’s election, or shortly thereafter, Joshua Green contends —mainly out of frustration that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and not he, has become President Obama’s go-to adviser in that area. Blogging for the Atlantic, Green notes that,...

Before Ink Dries, 14 States Sue Over Health Law

13 Republican AGs, 1 Dem charge health care reform is unconstitutional

(Newser) - The threatened lawsuits over the health care reform law started arriving at courthouses today shortly after President Obama signed the measure. Thirteen attorneys general headed by Bill McCollum of Florida—who is also a candidate for governor— sued the Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services departments and their secretaries....

Geithner: 'I'm Incredibly Angry'
 Geithner: 'I'm 
 Incredibly 
 Angry' 
Interview

Geithner: 'I'm Incredibly Angry'

Treasury secretary says he's sick of the criticism, mad at Wall Street

(Newser) - Timothy Geithner is often seen as the cool, calculating co-architect of various bailouts, and a friend to Wall Street, but that image is all wrong, he insists. “I am incredibly angry at what happened to our country,” he says. In an affable interview with Vogue —he begins...

Geithner: Bernanke Ouster Would Freak Out the Market
Geithner: Bernanke Ouster Would Freak Out the Market
Interview

Geithner: Bernanke Ouster Would Freak Out the Market

But Treasury Secretary isn't worried about reconfirmation

(Newser) - Timothy Geithner is behind Ben Bernanke, and thinks the markets are, too. When Politico asked how the markets would react if the Senate didn’t confirm the Fed chairman for a second term, Geithner replied, “I think the markets would view that as a very troubling thing to the...

Feds Should Cut Deficit, Irk Right by Dumping Gold

Time to act like a real business, and bust those betting against US

(Newser) - The federal government's vast stash of gold could be used to both bring down the deficit and drive its critics crazy, writes Thomas Frank. If the government were to take the advice of its critics and really start acting like a business, it would unload its 261 million ounces of...

US Takes Majority Stake in GMAC
US Takes Majority Stake
in GMAC

US Takes Majority Stake in GMAC

Government gives auto lender another $3.8B in aid

(Newser) - The government gave GMAC Financial Services another $3.8 billion in cash and took a majority stake in the auto lender, aiming to stabilize the company as it struggles with big losses in its home mortgage unit. The fresh infusion is on top of $12.5 billion in taxpayer money...

US Offers Unlimited Aid to Fannie, Freddie

Feds also allow top officials to bring home fat paychecks

(Newser) - The Obama administration yesterday gave a blank check to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—just in case. The government declared it is willing to provide unlimited financial assistance to the mortgage giants over the next three years, a move designed to reassure markets that the US won't let them fail....

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