Free Republic

“Enron-type accounting standards have become the norm,” says William Henderson of Indiana University, one of many exasperated law professors who are asking the American Bar Association to overhaul the way law schools assess themselves. “Every time I look at this data, I feel dirty.”

The financial crisis stretched even farther across the economy than many had realized, as new disclosures show the Federal Reserve rushed trillions of dollars in emergency aid not just to Wall Street but also to motorcycle makers, telecom firms and foreign-owned banks in 2008 and 2009.The Fed's efforts to prop up the financial sector reached across a broad spectrum of the economy, benefiting stalwarts of American industry including General Electric and Caterpillar and household-name companies such as Verizon, Harley-Davidson and Toyota. The central bank's aid programs also supported U.S. subsidiaries of banks based in East Asia, Europe and Canada while...

Peter Wallison of the American Enterprise Institute calls for getting the Government out of the Housing Business.

The Obama administration's latest estimate of taxpayer costs of the Wall Street bailout is too rosy and could ultimately damage public trust in government, the top bailout cop said on Monday. woodleywonderworks A SIGTARP report says the Treasury may have used misleading methods for calculating the cost of the bailout. In its quarterly report to Congress, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program said the Treasury Department's bailout cost estimate for American International Group was an example of using misleading numbers to paint a positive pre-election account of the program. The administration on Sept. 30 slashed its...

Politico’s new poll reinforces the fact that momentum remains strong with fired-up Republicans, mainly because of fired-up independents.  The numbers look daunting for Democrats with just one week to go before Election Day, and in many places, past the time many have already voted.  And it’s not as though the Democrats didn’t have warnings that their massive expansion of government wouldn’t have dire consequences: Expressing deep dissatisfaction with President Obama’s policies and performance, independents have increasingly sided with conservatives in the belief that government grew too large, too fast under Obama—and that it can no longer be trusted. In the...

(CNSNews.com) - When Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) gave her inaugural address as speaker of the House in 2007, she vowed there would be “no new deficit spending.” Since that day, the national debt has increased by $5 trillion, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. "After years of historic deficits, this 110th Congress will commit itself to a higher standard: Pay as you go, no new deficit spending,” Pelosi said in her speech from the speaker’s podium. “Our new America will provide unlimited opportunity for future generations, not burden them with mountains of debt." Pelosi has served as speaker in...

There’s basically zero popular support for several already unlikely initiatives the FTC is looking into in order to support the “reinvention of journalism.” Rasmussen Reports polled 1,000 people on whether they would support proposals—like a tax on consumer electronics to help news organizations or a taxpayer-funded program to support young journalists through AmeriCorps—and the answer was a decisive no. A monthly tax on cell phone bills? 90 percent no! A tax on consumer electronic devices? 84 percent no! The young reporter program? 70 percent no! A White House commission to help save journalism jobs? 55 percent no! (Via MediaPost) Most...

Cash for Appliances likely to draw crowds to stores in California By Mark Glover mglover@sacbee.com Published: Saturday, Apr. 24, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 1B California's Cash for Appliances program appears to be off to a strong start, but the first big test for retailers is likely to occur today when weekend buyers are expected to hit stores in big numbers. By early next week, consumers and appliance sellers will get their first clue on just how long California's rebate money is going to hold up. "Anecdotally, retailers are experiencing more sales than they've seen in a long time,"...

Broadway Bank, the family-owned lender that helped launch U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias' political career, was seized by government regulators Friday night, one of seven Illinois institutions taken over and sold to healthier companies. The failure of Chicago-based Broadway, which was unable to raise the $85 million it needed to remain independent, was anticipated, and its worsening health has weighed on Giannoulias' Democratic bid for President Barack Obama's old Senate seat. The bank had been struggling in recent years with real estate loans gone bad, losing $75 million last year. Giannoulias worked for his father at Broadway before entering politics,...

For most old-school journalists, the equation is simple. Public disdain for reporters — ranked slightly above used car salesmen in one public poll — combined with a need to stay independent from the government as watchdogs, equals a situation where we can't take money from the government to survive. But there are some other numbers to consider: 5,900 full-time newspaper journalism jobs disappeared last year, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism, with one-third of newspaper newsroom jobs gone since 2001. Newspaper advertising revenue dropped 22 percent in 2009, according to the PEJ. The historic way of funding great...

The Obama administration plans to overhaul how it's tackling the foreclosure crisis, in part by requiring lenders to temporarily slash or eliminate monthly mortgage payments for many borrowers who are unemployed, senior officials said Thursday. Banks and other lenders would have to reduce the payments to no more than 31 percent of a borrower's income, which would typically be their unemployment insurance, for up to six months. In some cases, administration officials said, a lender could allow a borrower to make no payments at all. The new push, which the White House is scheduled to announce Friday, takes direct aim...

The year 2010 is likely to be the pivotal year where pundits stop referring to the recession and begin openly talking about a depression. Our economic problem is rather simple to describe: There is too much debt relative to income and/or wealth. Below is a single graph that depicts the condition of our economy. It shows total debt of the U.S. as a percentage of GDP from 1870 forward. The debt figure includes all private and public debt. It does not include liabilities associated with unfunded government mandates like Social Security and Medicare. (Note: according to the U.S. trustees of...

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The banking system today may be in a more precarious position than it was a year ago, the man charged with overseeing a $700 billion bailout program said Wednesday. Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general managing the Troubled Asset Relief Program, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday that the government's decision to support bank mergers over the past year may have put the U.S. economy more at risk. "These banks that were too big to fail are now bigger," Barofsky said. "Government has sponsored and supported several mergers that made them larger and that guarantee, that implicit...

Dilution to ensue as embattled bank bolsters capitalization NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Citigroup Inc. has finalized an agreement with the federal government that will recapitalize the company with $58 billion of new common stock and make the U.S. taxpayer its largest shareholder, the bank said Wednesday.Moving to bolster its capitalization, Citigroup /quotes/comstock/13*!c/quotes/nls/c (C 3.52, +0.11, +3.23%) unveiled an agreement under which the government will exchange up to $25 billion of the bank's preferred securities for interim securities and warrants. The deal, which puts a conversion price of $3.25 a share on Citi common, was originally supposed to be completed in...

The Obama administration will seek new powers for the Securities and Exchange Commission to force firms to let shareholders vote on executive pay and make directors who set compensation more independent, an administration official said. Today’s proposal, subject to congressional approval, would cover all public companies. President Barack Obama has long supported giving shareholders nonbinding votes on bonuses, salaries and severance packages. The administration also will name a “special master” to monitor compensation plans for firms receiving exceptional assistance in the financial rescue. The changes are aimed at reducing systemic risks and quelling a political uproar over bonuses paid to...

Penske Automotive Group, owned by racecar legend Roger Penske, will buy GM's castoff brand. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Bankrupt automaker General Motors Corp. announced Friday that it will sell its Saturn unit to car dealership operator Penske Automotive Group.Penske (PAG, Fortune 500) is owned by former race car driver Roger Penske, who owns NASCAR and IndyCar racing teams. The deal would give Penske the rights to the 19-year old brand, but GM would continue production of Saturn's three highest-selling models, including the Aura sedan, and the Vue and Outlook cross-over SUVs.The deal, which GM expects to be completed in October,...

(H/T to Hot Air) It appears that GM will keep its lobbying arm even though it will pay lobbyists with tax dollars. General Motors will continue its multimillion-dollar lobbying operation in Washington, even after the federal government takes ownership of it. The automaker may even maintain its high-dollar lobbying contracts with some of the wealthiest and most influential K Street firms. “We believe we have an obligation to remain engaged at the federal and state levels,” General Motors stated in an e-mail after President Barack Obama announced his plan for the federal takeover of the carmaker, “and to have our...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Senior officials in the Obama administration said late Sunday the U.S. government will provide $30 billion in financing to General Motors Corp. to allow it to continue to operate through a historic Chapter 11 bankruptcy, expected to last an estimated 60 to 90 days.Officials confirmed that a majority of GM /quotes/comstock/13*!gm/quotes/nls/gm (GM 0.75, -0.37, -33.04%)  bond holders approved the deal to allow the ailing car maker to restructure $27 billion in debt. See full story on GM bondholders. "For the better part of a century, the General Motors Corporation has been one of the most recognizable...

Bond vigilantes—investors who, in protest to the government's monetary or fiscal policies policy, sell bonds to purposely drive up yield on U.S. debt—are back after 15 years of remaining on the low-down, according to Bloomberg. Higher yields mean higher interest costs for the government, making the cost of borrowing more expensive and throwing the proverbial wrench in Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's efforts to keep borrowing costs low for consumers and businesses while also trying to jolt the economy. The 10-year Treasury yield has risen 1.4 percent this year, pushing interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages to more than 5 percent....