A good number of bills have been introduced this week to distribute blame and respond to the financial crisis triggered by the failure of the government-sponsored home mortgage enterprises.
“Wakerider” legislation – bills that follow the headlines – deserve some skepticism because the time is ripe for political posturing and other silliness, but some of the [...]
[Update: New bailout text is here. Spending under the new language is likely to be roughly the same. See discussion here.]
The text of bailout legislation that might pass through Congress this coming week is circulating on the blogs (and reliable sources too . . .). I’ve taken it and done a little analysis, [...]
Reports have it that the U.S. federal government might spend $1 trillion bailing out financial services firms. That’s about $7,750 per U.S. family, or $2,500 per person.
That’s a net present value calculation – the amount of money you would have to put in an interest bearing account today to cover all future expenses. Running [...]
Here’s another “wakerider” bill – legislation introduced on the heels of a newsworthy event – dealing with the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (discussed earlier here and here):
S. 3471, a bill to prohibit government-sponsored enterprises from making lobbying expenditures, political contributions, or other certain contributions. (I’m sure they meant “certain other” [...]
With Congress back in town this week, the legislation spigot has been turned back on.
A new one – strictly reactive to the latest headlines – is H.R. 6864, which would prohibit golden parachute payments for former executives and directors of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Take that! – you capitalizers on the billions of dollars [...]
[Update: The Federal Housing Finance Agency discussed below was created by Title III of Public Law 110-289, the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008. This legislation is not linked to H.R. 1427 in the Library of Congress' legislative database so I missed the fact that a version of the bill had passed. I sometimes [...]