Smothers Brothers — Fed-Style

By Emily Eisenlohr | May 30, 2012

“Mom always liked you best!” Now Morgan Stanley knows how Tommy Smothers felt. The Fed is playing favorites with our biggest banks. An article by Tom Braithwaite, Tracy Alloway and Shahien Nasiripour in today’s Financial Times described the implications of Federal Reserve actions and a potential ratings downgrade on the bank holding company’s regulatory capital.

Unwitting and Unwilling Investors

By Emily Eisenlohr | May 29, 2012

Friends of ours sold their house and went to Charles Schwab to invest the proceeds until they found a retirement home in a warmer climate. They told the sales representative that they wanted to invest their funds in a money market fund since they may need their equity quickly. Told they could get a little more yield for…

We’re All AIG Now

By Emily Eisenlohr | May 28, 2012

Nothing infuriates the average American like the bailout of AIG. Not only was the company rescued by taxpayers from its own poor management and risk-taking. Its credit default swap obligations were also paid out — at 100 cents on the dollar — to Too Big To Fail banks like Goldman Sachs. Politicians and candidates rant…

Front-Running the FDIC

By Emily Eisenlohr | May 18, 2012

The American taxpayer is still backing derivatives trading at our largest banks. JPMorgan Chase’s $2 billion loss on credit derivatives is just the tip of an iceberg. Congress would like us to believe that regulators are going to prevent future taxpayer bailouts of big financial institutions. But what if our regulators disagree with each other?

The Hidden Underbelly of the Auto Bailout

By Emily Eisenlohr | February 24, 2012

Candidates for President from both parties play to voters’ disgust for bailouts. On February 24th the Detroit News reported that President Obama’s campaign launched an ad in Michigan claiming the Republican candidates had turned their backs on GM. Mitt Romney has frequently publicly criticized the government auto bailout. In his January State of the Union speech President…

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