1.) Inouye and other Senate dinosaurs make one last mad hobble for cash register — “In the waning days of the lame duck congressional session, Democrats controlling the Senate — in collaboration with a handful of old school Republicans — are pushing to wrap $1.27 trillion worth of unfinished budget work into a single ‘omnibus’ appropriations bill,” reports the AP. Sen. Jim DeMint hates this bill so much that he has threatened to read all 1,900 pages aloud if his colleagues do not make it smaller. To that end, a small contingent of fiscal guerillas are hoping to address the federal budget in the new year, when reinforcements will have arrived from Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Utah, and Kentucky. Until then, it’s DeMint, McCain, and Coburn attempting to hold back a red sea of pork. Their efforts are not completely futile. After requesting an earmark for the Kentucky National Guard to eradicate the most valuable cash crop in the United States, Sen. Mitch McConnell suddenly realized that he is not supposed to be spending other people’s money willy-nilly anymore, and had the earmark removed. “This is exactly what the American people said Nov. 2 they didn’t want us to do,” a chastened McConnell said. (more)
Main Street may be about to get its own gigantic bailout. Rumors are running wild from Washington to Wall Street that the Obama administration is about to order government-controlled lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to forgive a portion of the mortgage debt of millions of Americans who owe more than what their homes are worth. An estimated 15 million U.S. mortgages – one in five – are underwater with negative equity of some $800 billion. Recall that on Christmas Eve 2009, the Treasury Department waived a $400 billion limit on financial assistance to Fannie and Freddie, pledging unlimited help. The actual vehicle for the bailout could be the Bush-era Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP, a sister program to Obama’s loan modification effort. HARP was just extended through June 30, 2011. (more)
The fight over the changes to U.S. financial regulation was bruising. (more)
Mortgage rates have sunk to the lowest level in more than five decades, but consumers aren’t rushing to refinance their loans or buy homes. Mortgage company Freddie Mac says the average rate for 30-year fixed loans sank to 4.58 percent this week. (more)
On Friday, we found out that House and Senate conferees closed a marathon session with an early-morning announcement that a deal had been reached on the Dodd-Frank Financial Overhaul bill. The mainstream media, of course, breathlessly applauded Congress for making this deal and “fixing” our financial woes. (more)
U.S. mortgage rates fell to a record low, reducing borrowing costs for homebuyers as sales slump after the expiration of a government tax credit. (more)
Topics – Offloading Fannie and Freddie Woes to Banks, Brokers New Duty, GM IPO – Soon and Strange, AIG Seeking Buyers and Markets Down yet again. (more)
Topics – Conferees vow completion this week — RVs and Debit Cards are the focus — Climate change bill looks unlikely — Internet rules and backrooms — Uncertain Certainty, and markets remain down globally. (more)
Topics – Financial Reform Conferees slog forward — SEC gives up on AIG head — UK closes its SEC – Market controls stop bad trades — Swiss give up U.S. records — markets are flat (more)
Topics – BP gets the Chicago treatment — NYSE drops Fannie and Freddie — GM chooses to pay its own way in Europe — the SEC wants to pay its own way — hopes for a Climate Change law this year wane — and the markets close flat or down. (more)
Fannie Mae (FNM.N) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N), the largest U.S. home funding companies, will delist their shares on the New York Stock Exchange after failing to meet minimum trading price requirements, the companies' regulator said on Wednesday. (more)
U.S. Seeking Action Against BP – The Obama administration may require BP to establish an independently administered fund for reimbursing victims, which would remove compensation decision authority from BP. White House officials on Sunday said they wanted BP to put “substantial” funds into an escrow account to cover claims by Gulf Coast businesses and residents affected by the spill. There are also calls to ban BP from business in the U.S., which would give BP little reason to participate in such a fund. Bloomberg reports that Rep. Luis Gutierrez, (D-Ill.) will write Interior Secretary Ken Salazar urging him to ban BP from future lease sales because of the company’s “abhorrent environmental and safety record,” said Gutierrez’s spokesman. In addition to the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded and sank in April, BP operates the Gulf platforms Thunder Horse, the second-largest producing well in the U.S. at about 300,000 barrels per day, and Atlantis, which produces 200,000 barrels of oil a day. BP also operates the Prudhoe Bay oil field on Alaska’s North Slope. (more)
Sen. Richard Shelby, Alabama Republican and the ranking Republican member of the Senate Banking Committee, gave a final speech on the Senate floor Thursday in advance of the final vote to pass a financial regulation bill, which passed later in the evening. (more)
Senators ought to know they shouldn’t make promises they can’t keep. (more)
In a party-line, 56-to-43 vote Tuesday, Senate Democrats blocked any reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the corrupt, government-backed mortgage giants that even administration officials admit were at the “core” of “what went wrong” in the financial crisis. (more)
Anti-bank rhetoric may be all the rage, but there are 19 billion reasons why taxpayers should redirect their anger toward Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the lawmakers who keep bailing them out and the news media that refuse to report it. (more)
Many empty promises have been made to the American people in the past year and half, starting with a promise for “Change in Washington.” Unfortunately, what they’ve seen happening for the past 15 months isn’t the change people were bargaining to see. (more)
Republicans in the Senate agreeing to allow debate over a financial reform bill is an interesting development in what could amount to a reform of the financial sector not see in this county in roughly 80 years. (more)
In the high-stakes poker game of Washington DC power-politics, Democrats are holding a pair of deuces, but telling Republicans they’ve got a Royal Flush. Poker is all about bluff, and bluster, and unfounded confidence. And the rules governing politics aren’t much different. So, good for the Democrats. What’s upsetting, though, is that the Republicans are ready to fold, despite holding a Full House, aces high. It’s pathetic. And at this particular table – where the minimum bet is the future of America’s free market system – it’s unacceptable. (more)
To implement its agenda, Team Obama develops a narrative according to its needs. Then they send the marching orders out to their brethren in the media, who faithfully run stories sympathetic to the goal du jour. “Deal with us or we take you down,” Obama tells his targets in his best Chicago-style politico-speak. “If you are not at the table with us, you are on the menu.” (more)
