Mar 24 Who Qualifies as Middle Class These Days? Question: What dollar figure or income is in mind when all the politicians and news media speak of the middle class? Who is the middle class at this point in time? Paul Solman: “Middle class” has long been a fuzzy… Continue reading
Mar 24 Geithner, Bernanke Testify Amid Bid to Calm Furor Over AIG By Admin, PBS News Hour In an essay published Tuesday and Capitol Hill appearances, President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner worked to cool anger over the bonuses paid to executives at rescued insurance giant American International Group. Continue reading
Mar 23 Watch Glut of Foreclosed Homes Encourages Scams, Desperation With the national foreclosure rate still climbing, some chose to live in foreclosed homes while others have been the victims of "rent skimmers," people who pretend to own a foreclosed property and scam tenants out of thousands of dollars in… Continue watching
Mar 23 Watch Toxic Asset Plan May Woo Investors, but Long-term Impact Is Unclear While markets rose Monday on details of the toxic asset plan, critics voiced concern over taxpayer risk and the need for a long-term fix to financial sector troubles. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and Donald Marron of Lightyear Capital… Continue watching
Mar 23 Watch Other News: Home Sales Rise, Mexico Drug War Escalates In the day's other news, reports showing increased home sales helped fuel a rally on Wall Street and the Mexican government announced it will offer $2 million each for the arrest of 24 top drug lords in its latest effort… Continue watching
Mar 23 Watch Obama Team Launches New Plan to Buy Bad Assets From Banks White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers details the Treasury Department's plan to clear "toxic" assets from banks through a combination of public and private investment. Continue watching
Mar 23 The Toxic Asset Plan Explained By Business Desk After the Treasury Department released its plan today to rid banks of so-called “toxic assets” by enticing private investors to partner with the government, Paul Solman answered questions on the basics of the plan. What exactly are… Continue reading
Mar 23 New Program Aims to Entice Private Investors to Help Banks By Admin, PBS News Hour The Obama administration unveiled the latest program in its financial rescue plan Monday to draw private investors into a partnership with a new federal entity that could buy up troubled assets weighing down the nation's banks. Continue reading
Mar 23 Should the Government Break Up Big Banks Into Smaller Ones? Question: Can the government loan the FDIC money (which banks will pay back through the FDIC) to take over Citibank and Bank of America, et al., pay off… Continue reading
Mar 20 Watch Author Traces Demise of Bear Stearns in 'House of Cards' Author William Cohen discusses his book "House of Cards," which tells the story of how investment banking giant Bear Stearns collapsed in 2008. Continue watching