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I have found evidence that may explain the intense interest of Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) in bailing out ShoreBank, the “community development” bank that has received extraordinary assistance from her and several other “friends in high places.” The New York Times confirms that Rep. Schakowsky played a leading role in the ShoreBank bailout. Yet ShoreBank is not based in Rep. Schakowsky’s congressional district, and she did not help the Bank of Lincolnwood–which is in her district, and failed in 2009–or Park National Bank, which was also active in community development in Chicago until it was closed by federal regulators last...

Hedge fund manager Marc Mezvinsky had friends in high places when he bet big on a Greek economic recovery, but even the keen interest of his mother-in-law, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, wasn't enough to spare him and his investors from financial tragedy. In 2012, Mezvinski, the husband of Chelsea Clinton, created a $325 million basket of offshore funds under the Eaglevale Partners banner through a special arrangement with investment bank Goldman Sachs. The funds have lost tens of millions of dollars predicting that bailouts of the Greek banking system would pump up the value of the country’s distressed bonds....

Deutsche Bank can only be saved by the German government, strategist says Matt Clinch | @mattclinch81 Only a substantial intervention by the German government can stop the collapse of the country's largest lender, Deutsche Bank, according to Stefan Müller, the CEO of Frankfurt-based boutique research company DGAW. "Deutsche Bank doesn't realize that something serious needs to happen," he told CNBC via telephone on Thursday morning. "(CEO John) Cryan clearly showed that he has no idea how to survive." The embattled German lender saw a respite on Wednesday from hefty selling seen in previous sessions amid contradictory reports on whether the...

Friday afternoons are the Obama administration’s preferred time to release information it doesn’t want the public to see. Case in point: On Sept. 9, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) quietly released a memo indicating its intention to bail out the health insurance companies participating in the Affordable Care Act. Congress — and the American people — should pay attention. Such a bailout is one of the administration’s top goals between now and Dec. 31. But spending billions of taxpayer dollars would only prop up a failing law that continues to harm the people it was supposed to...

"Clinton sought secret info on EU bailout plans as son-in-law's doomed hedge fund gambled on Greece" Hedge fund manager Marc Mezvinsky had friends in high places when he bet big on a Greek economic recovery, but even the keen interest of his mother-in-law, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, wasn't enough to spare him and his investors from financial tragedy. In 2012, Mezvinski, the husband of Chelsea Clinton, created a $325 million basket of offshore funds under the Eaglevale Partners banner through a special arrangement with investment bank Goldman Sachs. The funds have lost tens of millions of dollars predicting that...

For “progressives,” the Nanny State never does enough. They always find new social problems and “unmet needs” that, in their view, can only be addressed by further expansion of government. In that vein, we now have a proposal to take the free school lunch program in schools to next level – college. Since the federal government feeds students in K-12 schools via the National School Lunch Program, it should similarly feed college students who are “food insecure,” argues a new policy brief published by the Wisconsin HOPE Lab. According to authors Sara Goldrick-Rab, Katharine Broton, and Emily Brunjes Colo, the...

(Brandon Garabrant is seen in his military uniform in Greenfield, N.H., before he was killed in the line of duty, June 20, 2014, in Afghanistan. When Garabrant graduated from high school he wanted to wear his Marine uniform but school officials said policy bans uniforms and requires graduates to wear blue caps and gowns. A new state law passed this year now allows high school graduates to wear their military uniforms if they have completed basic training.) CONCORD, N.H. — Can the cap and gown worn by high school graduates coexist peacefully with military uniforms worn by classmates destined...

House Republicans are priming the pump for the next president to overhaul much of the financial regulation enacted in the aftermath of the 2008 global market downturn. The GOP plan would repeal and replace most of the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul with a more market-based regulatory scheme. As part of the GOP’s “A Better Way Agenda,” House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, was scheduled to unveil details of the simpler, yet stricter, regulation Tuesday morning at the Economic Club of New York. “In a phrase,” he said, summarizing the Republican plan in prepared remarks obtained by The Daily Signal, “we...

New Jersey lawmakers on Thursday sent Gov. Chris Christie legislation to keep Atlantic City from running out of cash, throwing the financially strapped resort a life preserver just before the unofficial start to summer this weekend. The Democrat-led Assembly and state Senate approved the measures by wide margins just as the state’s 127 miles of beaches prepare for the Memorial Day holiday. Republican Gov. Chris Christie, who earlier supported legislation allowing for an immediate state takeover of the city’s finances, has said the bill gives him the authority he needs. He stopped short of saying whether he will sign the...

When Washington took over the beleaguered mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the collapse of the housing market and the financial crisis of 2008, it was with the implicit promise that they would be returned to shareholders after being nursed back to health. But now, with the unsealing of documents this week that were produced as part of a lawsuit filed against the government, new evidence is coming to light on how intimately the White House was involved in the Treasury’s decision in August 2012 to keep all the companies’ profits for the government. That move effectively maintained...

Hope you enjoy. To Sir, With Love

Republicans are waging a battle over the Constitution when it comes to helping Puerto Rico. Supporters of Speaker Paul Ryan’s legislation to help Puerto Rico handle billions in debt before a critical July bond payment deadline point to Article IV of the Constitution in arguing they have a responsibility to help the territory.

Donald Trump says Puerto Rico has "far far too much debt," and the U.S. government shouldn't bail out the island....... Puerto Rico is in crisis mode. It has run up $70 billion in debt, a staggering amount for an island of under 3.5 million people..... "You have to cut the debt way down and get back to business," he said.

UPS, and roughly 270,000 retired truck drivers, construction workers, and other service workers can breathe a collective sigh of relief... for now. As we previously reported, the Central States Pension Fund had submitted a plan to Treasury that if approved would have cut member benefits, and triggered UPS to take an estimated $3.8 billion charge. As the WSJ reports, Kenneth Feinberg (who was appointed by the Treasury to review all such applications) rejected the plan presented by the CSPF. Feinberg cited a few reasons for his decision, one being that it imposed cuts in a disproportionate manner, another was that...

Mortgage giant Fannie Mae posted net income of $1.1 billion for the first quarter, down from a year ago as declining interest rates reduced the value of the financial instruments it uses to hedge against rate swings. […] Washington-based Fannie is paying a dividend of $919 million to the U.S. Treasury next month. Fannie will then have paid a total $148.5 billion in dividends, exceeding the $116 billion it received from taxpayers during the financial crisis. …

Prior to his remarks about Obama’s final days in office, Savage told his listeners he believed Trump would defeat Clinton in a landslide, describing the former secretary of state, senator and first lady as “Fidel Castro in a dress.” If Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination and defeats likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in November, President Obama will sabotage the economy in his final months in office, predicts talk-radio host Michael Savage. “If Trump wins – and I think he will – there will be an economic crash,” Savage told listeners of his nationally syndicated show, “The Savage Nation,” Monday....

Speaker Ryan has made it crystal clear that House Republicans' number one priority is to shield American taxpayers from a bailout of Puerto Rico My problem lies in reconciling my gross habits with my net income.—Errol Flynn Due to Puerto Rico’s gross habits, the commonwealth has amassed a total debt of over $72 billion and has already defaulted on $221 million of its’ debt. When unfunded liabilities (pensions) are included, these additional costs bring the total value of their debt closer to $165 billion, approximately $150% of its’ GDP.

Illinois’ college and universities received a much-needed lifeline Friday when lawmakers approved a $600 million short-term funding fix for the institutions, which have been struggling without state funding during the months-long budget stalemate, even laying off employees. Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner is expected to sign the bill, which is a one-time deal and includes nearly $170 million in tuition grants for low-income students. But state Comptroller Leslie Munger said she wouldn’t wait for the Republican’s signature, instead immediately begin processing payments for schools. The rare bipartisan deal comes at an especially crucial time for Chicago State University, which has been...

Please insert a big fat TOLDYASO right here. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is lashing out at opponents to his Puerto Rico bailout bill demanding they stop calling it a “bailout”. Instead Ryan demands his opposition use the gaslighting term “restructuring”. Hogwash.

The special inspector general for the TARP bailout, said that "Goldman took $10 billion in TARP bailout funds knowing that it had fraudulently misrepresented to investors the quality of residential mortgages bundled into mortgage-backed securities.