Free Republic

The U.S. government's $700-billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) bailout likely had a greater impact on foreign banks than the stimuli packages of foreign countries had on their American counterparts, according to a report released by the Congressional Oversight Panel (COP), “Although the crisis began with subprime mortgage defaults in the U.S., its damage spread rapidly overseas,” the report stated. “[We] found that policymakers were ill-prepared for such a worldwide crisis and that the internationalization of the financial system has outpaced the ability of national regulators to respond." COP indicated that despite the limits of international coordination, most countries ultimately...

Unemployment and job loss figures released for August 2009 by the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics did not hold any promise for economic recovery reaching American households soon. While the number of jobs lost in August was down – a sign pointed to as evidence the recession is turning around – there was an increase in the number of people claiming unemployment. That figure jumped to 9.7 percent for all workers, up .3 percent from July and the highest level recorded in more than two decades. The August bump was driven by increases in the jobless rates for...