How to Reform Our Financial System – By PAUL VOLCKER – on proprietary trading and TBTF – NY Times Opinion
Cloudy Future for Fannie and Freddie – By CHARLES DUHIGG – … Fifteen months after Fannie and Freddie were effectively nationalized, neither the Obama administration nor Congressional leaders see a quick solution to one of the thorniest problems in American finance: how to fix the twin mortgage giants without choking the flow of credit to homeowners and dealing a blow to a still-fragile housing market. … – NY Times
U.S. to Help Banks in Distressed Areas – By SEWELL CHAN – The Treasury Department will invest up to $1 billion from the federal bank bailout fund in small banks and credit unions that make loans to small businesses in some of the communities most ravaged by the economic downturn, officials announced on Wednesday. About 210 institutions will be eligible for low-cost capital under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, created in 2008 to buy assets from troubled banks, Treasury officials said. The eligible institutions are 60 banks and thrifts with a total of $21 billion in assets and 150 credit unions with a combined $5 billion in assets. – NY Times
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Bank Director Training? – If this is not a joke, I am very very scared. This website appears to be a training resource for bank directors made by the federal reserve. Please go through a few of the “lessons” so that you can get a feel for my fear. Lesson 1) What is a Bank? Are you serious? – Surly Trader
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Barney Frank: Friend or Foe to Fannie and Freddie? – By Darryl R. Isherwood – When U.S. Rep. Barney Frank announced last month his interest in possibly abolishing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it was a stunning reversal of his years-long support of the two mortgage associations. – FOXBusiness
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Did The Obama Administration Do ANY Homework Before Announcing The Volcker Rule? – Jeff Madrick – … What is disturbing is how poorly the Volcker rule has been thought through. When first announced, it sounded like a worthy and needed step in the right direction, and a suggestion the Obama team was waking up to reality. But I also expected more sophisticated details to come. So far, there are none. … – Clusterstock at Business Insider
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Does Anyone in Washington Know What Needs to Be Done to Create Jobs? – Paul Kasriel – Before we declare the fiscal stimulus a failure or enact yet another one, why don’t we hold judgment until the ARRA has been fully implemented. You see, according to ProPublica, as of January 25, only approximately 30% of the $580 billion allocated spending in the 2009 fiscal stimulus program has actually been disbursed to date. … – Northern Trust
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Goldman’s (Arthur) Levitt Calls Obama’s Gimmick To Keep GSEs Off The Balance Sheet “Shades Of Enron” – Submitted by Tyler Durden – Zero Hedge
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Official says Fed might buy more mortgage-backed securities – By Neil Irwin – The Federal Reserve would consider reopening its program to support the mortgage market if interest rates spiked or the economy showed new weakness, Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William C. Dudley said in two new interviews. – Washington Post
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No Turning Back on Fannie, Freddie, Lockhart Says – By Theo Francis – The U.S. investment in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may be too deep to effectively transition the mortgage-finance companies out of government control and back into the hands of private investors, their former regulator said. “I would love to figure out how to get there, but I think we may be too far along the line of government involvement,” James B. Lockhart III, who ran the Federal Housing Finance Agency and its predecessor agency from 2006 until August 2009, said in a Bloomberg Television interview today. – Bloomberg