News

2008

October

04

• Rescue sweetened with tax incentives. The House of Representatives yesterday approved $107 billion in tax breaks for businesses and consumers as part of a sweeping financial rescue package designed to stave the credit crisis. Saddled onto the 450-page bill is a

• New law seeks to limit executive compensation. In the first significant attempt by Congress to legislate executive pay, the $700 billion financial rescue plan signed into law yesterday includes efforts to rein in the use of "golden parachutes," banning the giant windfalls in

• What the FHA needs to get the job done. In the current credit squeeze, if you have less than a 20 percent down payment, there's pretty much only one major source of mortgage financing available: the Federal Housing Administration, the Depression-era home loan insurance agency

03

• If the bailout doesn't pass.... What if, after the House vote today, Americans learn that 3,000 banks will fail? That's what happened during the last U.S. financial crisis -- and today's credit crisis is much greater than the thrift and

• California may need emergency $7 billion loan. California may need an emergency loan of up to $7 billion from the federal government within weeks, the Los Angeles Times on Friday quoted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as saying in a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry

• Rescue package may not thaw credit markets. As hopes rise for congressional passage today of a massive rescue plan for the U.S. financial system, many financial experts are already wondering: What is being left out and what will have to be

• Wells Fargo to acquire Wachovia. In an abrupt change of course, Wachovia Corp. said today it agreed to be acquired by Wells Fargo & Co. in a $15.1 billion all-stock deal, wiping out Wachovia's previous plan to sell its banking operations to

• Jobs report underlines economic decline. The government is out with more bad economic news this morning: The job market began to deteriorate even before the financial crisis reached a more serious stage two weeks ago. Employers cut 159,000 jobs in September,

02

• Show us the hope. Falling house prices are driving the collapse of the financial system. But the bailout bill, even the “sweetened” version that was approved by the Senate Wednesday night, does little to avert the defaults and foreclosures

• The credit crunch spreads. The credit crunch hit 2640 Merchant Drive in Baltimore in September when Drew Greenblatt asked his bank for a $175,000 increase in the line of credit for his thriving company, Marlin Steel Wire Products. The bank said

• FHA program for struggling homeowners. The Bush administration rolled out a program yesterday that aims to help thousands of struggling borrowers refinance into more affordable, government-backed mortgages and thus provide some relief for the foreclosure crisis that's contributed to crippling

• Road map to weather rocky times. In the 1950 movie "All About Eve," actress Bette Davis slyly uttered a memorable line: "Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy night." She might as well have been talking to today's investors.

• No silver bullets here. To hear it from critics on the left and right, the Bush administration and legislative leaders were in such a rush to pass a "$700 billion bailout for Wall Street" that they failed to consider much

01

• La economía familiar y la crisis. Muchos norteamericanos están observando nerviosamente los grandes altibajos de la Bolsa de Nueva York tratando de detectar indicios del colapso de Wall Street, pero ahora son los opacos mercados crediticios los que más

• La otra cara del desastre. Algunos expertos en el mercado de la vivienda se atreven a afirmar que la actual crisis, junto a todas sus serias inconveniencias, puede traer ciertos beneficios. “No hay mal que por bien no venga”, dice

September

30

• Rechazan el plan de rescate financiero. La Cámara de Representantes de Estados Unidos rechazó el lunes en votación una iniciativa para destinar 700.000 millones de dólares al rescate del sector financiero. Horas antes, el presidente George W. Bush instó

29

• Bailout plan's effect not expected to be swift. The tentative agreement Sunday on a $700-billion financial system rescue package would provide a badly needed psychological boost on Wall Street but wouldn't be an immediate panacea for the economy or housing market, experts predicted.

• Bailout bill to go to House. Saying the nation's economy is on the line, congressional leaders are pushing for a vote today on a $700-billion plan to end the financial system's paralysis and protect taxpayers from having to bear the cost.

• Economy: Poll finds Americans gloomier, for now. As people on Wall Street and Main Street hold their breath to see if a federal bailout of the nation's financial institutions will work, Americans are starting to speak — not whisper — the word "depression." In

27

• Two families find a little change can save a lot. Bruce and Jennifer Pivnick slashed their insurance costs without reducing their coverage. Mitzi and Jimmie Walker discovered that food cooked at home tastes as good as take-out and costs a lot less. And in the