dimelab dimelab: shrinking the gap between talk and action.

Ryan Grim Topic in The Credit Debacle Catalog

Fri 2010-04-23 19:59 EDT

New York Fed Warehousing Junk Loans On Its Books: Examiner's Report

As Lehman Brothers careened toward bankruptcy in 2008, the New York Federal Reserve Bank came to its rescue, sopping up junk loans that the investment bank couldn't sell in the market, according to a report from court-appointed examiner Anton R. Valukas. The New York Fed, under the direction of now-Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, knowingly allowed itself to be used as a "warehouse" for junk loans, the report says, even though Fed guidelines say it can only accept investment grade bonds...

books; examinations s reported; new York Fed Warehousing Junk Loans.

Tue 2010-03-09 18:09 EST

Fed Audit Bitterly Opposed By Treasury

The Treasury Department is vigorously opposed to a House-passed measure that would open the Federal Reserve to an audit by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a senior Treasury official said Monday... "It's interesting that the Fed regards the simple fact that people find out what it does as somehow being unduly restrictive. We are a government of laws, not of men," [said Representative Alan Grayson]. "It's certainly no surprise that banking insiders at Treasury don't want transparency at the Fed," said Jesse Benton, a spokesman for Rep. Paul. "They are wrapped up in the central bank shenanagins too, and do not want their wheelings and dealings out in the open any more than Alan Greenspan or Ben Bernanke,"

Fed Audit Bitterly Opposed; Treasury.

Fri 2010-02-12 21:32 EST

Priceless: How The Federal Reserve Bought The Economics Profession

The Federal Reserve, through its extensive network of consultants, visiting scholars, alumni and staff economists, so thoroughly dominates the field of economics that real criticism of the central bank has become a career liability for members of the profession, an investigation by the Huffington Post has found. This dominance helps explain how, even after the Fed failed to foresee the greatest economic collapse since the Great Depression, the central bank has largely escaped criticism from academic economists. In the Fed's thrall, the economists missed it, too...

economics profession; Federal Reserve bought; priceless.

Fri 2010-02-12 21:31 EST

The Cash Committee: How Wall Street Wins On The Hill

...In the fall of 2008, Democrats took the White House and expanded their congressional majorities as America struggled through a financial collapse wrought by years of deregulation. The public was furious. It seemed as if the banks and institutions that dragged the economy to the brink of disaster -- and were subsequently rescued by taxpayer funds -- would finally be forced to change their ways. But it's not happening. Financial regulation's long slog through Congress has left it riddled with loopholes, carved out at the request of the same industries that caused the mess in the first place. An outraged American public is proving no match for the mix of corporate money and influence that has been marshaled on behalf of the financial sector...

Cash Committee; Hill; Wall Street wins.

Fri 2009-11-20 09:44 EST

Fannie and Freddie Fire Their Own Inspector General

There is no independent auditor overseeing the federal agency responsible for some $6 trillion in home mortgages, because the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel ruled that the agency's inspector general didn't have authority to operate, according to internal memos obtained by the Huffington Post. The ruling came in response to a request from the Federal Housing Finance Agency itself -- which means that a federal agency essentially succeeded in getting rid of its own inspector general.

Fannie; Freddie Fire; Inspector generally.

The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Thu 2009-09-17 10:06 EDT

Priceless: How The Federal Reserve Bought The Economics Profession

The Federal Reserve, through its extensive network of consultants, visiting scholars, alumni and staff economists, so thoroughly dominates the field of economics that real criticism of the central bank has become a career liability for members of the profession, an investigation by the Huffington Post has found. This dominance helps explain how, even after the Fed failed to foresee the greatest economic collapse since the Great Depression, the central bank has largely escaped criticism from academic economists.

com; economics profession; Federal Reserve bought; full Feeds; HuffingtonPost; priceless.