“Economic history” on The Daily Caller

July 11th, 2008 is a very important date in American history. It is the date that crude oil hit an all-time high of $147.27 a barrel. Nationally, gasoline topped $4 a gallon. (more)

European banks have stopped bleeding money, but they remain vulnerable to the effects of the sovereign debt crisis or a slowdown in the economy, and a small number still depend on low-cost loans from the European Central Bank, a report from the bank said on Thursday. (more)

The U.S. Treasury set plans to sell the last of its Citigroup Inc. common shares in a $10 billion offering that would cap the government’s biggest bank bailout of the financial-market meltdown. (more)

LONDON — Fears among European bondholders spread Tuesday from the weakest members of the euro zone to other countries, including Italy and Belgium, spurring a stepped-up search for a solution to a crisis that is increasingly putting political as well as financial strain on Europe’s decade-old monetary union. (more)

DUBLIN (AP) — Debt-crippled Ireland formally applied Sunday for a massive EU-IMF loan to stem the flight of capital from its banks, joining Greece in a step unthinkable only a few years ago when Ireland was a booming Celtic Tiger and the economic envy of Europe. (more)

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) — The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed to a two-year high while Treasury 30-year bonds slid and the dollar fell as the Federal Reserve planned to expand asset purchases by an additional $600 billion to shore up the economy. (more)

Freddie Mac reported a narrower $2.5 billion third-quarter loss, the smallest shortfall in more than a year amid signs that mortgage delinquencies are slowing. But the company warned that delays in the foreclosure process could raise costs “significantly” and that losses also could rise amid a faltering housing recovery. (more)

DETROIT — When executives from General Motors begin pitching its public stock offering to investors this week, they will extol the company’s financial turnaround, its snazzy new car lineup led by the plug-in Chevrolet Volt, and its growing operations in China and other international markets. (more)

To the long list of those picking fights with banks over bad mortgages, add the Federal Reserve. (more)

Reporting from Washington — (more)

Sunday marks the two-year anniversary of President Bush signing the “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act,” better known as TARP (the Troubled Assets Relief Program). (more)

Can you teach an old dog new tricks? In politics, the answer is usually no. Most elected officials cling to their ideological biases, despite the real-world facts that disprove their theories time and again. Most have no common sense, and most never acknowledge that they are wrong. (more)

Financial experts and banking industry insiders gathered at the Treasury Department in Washington Tuesday to discuss the future of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The general consensus? There is agreement that Fannie and Freddie cannot continue to exist in their current state of government conservatorship — but the agreement ends there. (more)

Nearly two years ago, the federal government began pumping what now totals almost $150 billion of taxpayer money into mortgage giants Fannie Mae (the Federal National Mortgage Association) and Freddie Mac (the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation) in order to keep them afloat. Seen at the time as too big to fail, the two massive mortgage entities, which collectively back more than $5 trillion worth of home mortgages in the U.S., were essentially taken over by the federal government in September 2008 when they were placed under conservatorship. (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)

Ford reported a second quarter profit of $2.6 billion today, marking the automaker’s best quarterly performance in six years and easily beating Wall Street expectations. (more)

Wall Street’s banditry was the proximate cause of the Great Recession, not its underlying cause. Even if the Street is better controlled in the future (and I have my doubts), the structural reason for the Great Recession still haunts America. That reason is America’s surging inequality. (more)

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The risk of a double-dip recession is getting a lot of attention, but even that grim prediction could prove a little too optimistic. (more)

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The Washington Post is reporting today that confidence in President Obama continues to dwindle.  The president’s spinmeisters continue to argue that it is, somehow, all George Bush’s fault.  More generally, the media seems baffled.  Even the inestimable Peggy Noonan wrote: (more)