Another "evolving plan". I think they will discover that there is no easy method for successful loan modifications (as FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair discovered when they took over IndyMac). I guess the plan is to buy down loans with the $50 billion - or pay a portion of the monthly payment.
JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup Inc. announced plans Friday to temporarily halt foreclosures as the government works to finalize the details of a financial rescue package that could include billions of dollars in aid for struggling homeowners.
Bear in mind this is just two banks and it is only a month. On top of things, there is no real plan in place to help those about to be foreclosed upon, never mind the ones who already were.
Last week ago, Institutional Risk Analytics interviewed Josh Rosner of Graham Fisher & Co and David Kotok of Cumberland Advisors, and the discussion is one of the most direct and revealing of the true political nature of the financial collapse I have yet seen. As I have written before, using reports from the Fed, FDIC, and Comptroller of the Currency, the financial problems are very tightly concentrated in a handful of the largest banks, with over 8,000 plus smaller and regional banks having declined to participate in Wall Street’s derivatives madness.
It is becoming abundantly clear that Barack Obama is going to pursue the same centrist pro-Wall Street policies as did Bill Clinton, and Clinton's big money contributors.
Dylan Ratigan, the host of "Fast Money," is one of the few voices of taxpayer outrage on CNBC. Today he interviewed Obama economic advisor Laura Tyson. Keep yourself away from objects that you might be able to hurl at your computer screen, because it will be hard to restrain yourself.
Here's the link
[If someone knows how to embed the video, feel free to do so or let me know how]
A few "highlights":
- It's not appropriate to think of this as coming out of the taxpayer's hide.
- The interests of Wall Street and Main Street are one (Main Street should be glad we are bailing out Wall Street)
- This isn't a bailout, it's an effort to "restore normalcy"
Is this unbelievable or what? Millions of jobs on the line and Congress puts the auto industry through hell yet Citigroup stock drops and the Government immediately comes to their rescue.
One option being considered is taking some of the risky assets held by Citigroup off its balance sheet, a move that would give the company more breathing room and put it in a better position to raise capital. It was unclear, however, exactly how that option might be structured, the people said. Another option would be for the government to make another cash injection into the company.
You probably saw the reports on Citigroup firing 53,000 people, but what most of these stories failed to note is they also outsourced to India their IT services.
Pandit, who took Citi's reins in December, said Friday he expects to shed $400 billion of assets he inherited within the next three years. Two-thirds of the divestitures will come from the company's troubled consumer banking division.
If Citi were $400 billion thinner today, it would have about $1.79 trillion of assets, just ahead of Bank of America Corp. (BAC), which cracked the scales with $1.74 trillion of assets at the end of its first quarter on March 31. When Bank of America completes its planned acquisition of Countywide Financial Corp. (CFC) later this year, it would surpass Citigroup, even with Countrywide's rapidly deteriorating mortgage assets.
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