U.S. financial reform no longer a done deal 28 Jun 2010 Last Friday's 5 a.m. Capitol Hill compromise was meant to culminate months of hardfought wrangling. But Democrat Robert Byrd's death and Republican Scott Brown's wavering on a bank tax have put the proposal back in jeopardy. Obama has more work to do if he wants a bill to sign.
U.S. financial reformers hang tough to bitter end 25 Jun 2010 Even at the final hour, big banks hoped Congress would pull its best punches. But the regulatory reform bill agreed early on Friday by House and Senate negotiators lands solid blows. Though no knockout, it looks set to constrain Wall Street banks' risktaking and profit.
U.S. bank reform takes a turn for the tougher 24 Jun 2010 Industry lobbyists hoped the financial overhaul would soften in the final stages. Instead, a flurry of profitcrimping provisions has popped up in the final hours. Those who feared that drawnout negotiations could bring legislation damaging for the banks may have been right.
Obama needs super-salesman as next budget guru 22 Jun 2010 Peter Orszag didn t want the job as Obama s budget chief. His successor should be just as reluctant, having to deal with the aftermath of the stimulus and healthcare plans. Making deficit numbers add up will be hard selling them to Congress, voters and markets even harder.
Merkel and Sarkozy try to find unity in populism 18 Jun 2010 The French and German leaders say they will push for a global financial transaction tax at next weekend's G20 summit. They know it won't fly. But they're desperate to display a united front after months of profound differences over the management of the euro zone debt crisis.
TARP starts grooving like bad ’80s remix 17 Jun 2010 The list of bailout deadbeats keeps growing 91 missed their May dividend payments. After turning dozens of banks into zombies during the 1980s S&L crisis, the Fed was prevented from doing so again. Yet Treasury is repeating the error. Some TARP recipients may be beyond saving.
Big banks find unlikely supporter in Congress 16 Jun 2010 U.S. reforms keep getting tougher on banks and they need to take friends where they find them. Right now, that means Barney Frank. The Democrat is no Wall Street booster, but his recognition of what is and isn t workable makes him a bulwark against punitive populist measures.
Mixed score for Spain’s latest crisis response 16 Jun 2010 The Bank of Spain is to publish the results of bank stress tests. A detailed and credible comeclean exercise would help revive market confidence. But the government's longawaited labour reforms, announced at the same time, don't look bold enough.
BP bigger blow to confidence than euro debt crisis 15 Jun 2010 Sure, the Gulf of Mexico fiasco threatens to wipe out just one big company, BP, while one sovereign default could lead to more and break up the single currency. But debt crises can always be resolved somehow. No man, government or corporation has been able to stop the Gulf leak.
BP’s U.S. political risk goes well beyond rhetoric 11 Jun 2010 The UK oil giant's name is so besmirched in DC that restoring its old AngloIranian Oil Co moniker could hardly worsen things. It's partly political posturing, but there's a real threat too. Venezuelanstyle expropriation may be a stretch, but Uncle Sam could still hurt BP badly.
U.S. Congress gets carried away by carry 10 Jun 2010 It s one thing to make buyout and hedge fund bigwigs pay income rather than capital gains tax rates on fund holdings they get for nothing. But lawmakers even want them to pay more tax than bosses in other sectors when they sell the firms they built. It s a stretch.
Volcker Rule could tolerate Highbridge exemption 9 Jun 2010 It makes sense to stop bank prop desks acting like hedge funds. But owning hedge fund managers like JPMorgan s Highbridge is pretty safe. Even making investments needn t be beyond the pale. After all, elsewhere policymakers like the idea of banks keeping skin in the game.
U.S. banks to pay price for keeping swaps desks 9 Jun 2010 Blanche Lincoln s war on banks derivatives trading helped keep her in line for a third term in the Senate. Her proposal nonetheless seems likely to get cut from U.S. financial reform. But Wall Street should hold the cheers. Congress still plans to change how banks do business.
Every little helps with U.S. budget 8 Jun 2010 Cutting 5 percent of optional government spending won't plug America's fiscal hole. Still, President Obama's proposal may buy a bit more time with nervous financial markets. It could even kickstart a needed rationalization of government outlays. But Obama needs to go further.
A little eBay fairy dust couldn’t hurt California 7 Jun 2010 As Jon Corzine can attest, a business background hardly guarantees political success. Though California is no startup website, former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, poised to become the GOP nominee for governor, might have the right skillset to tackle its fiscal challenges.
U.S. should spike $35 bln newspaper bailout idea 4 Jun 2010 It s almost as dodgy a notion as nuking BP s gusher. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is mulling ways to subsidize the flailing news industry. Paying for it could involve headscratchers like taxing sales of iPads. What the media industry needs is innovation, not intervention.
Hungary’s Grecian parallels set off global alarms 4 Jun 2010 The new government is unhelpfully drawing parallels between the country and Greece. A falling forint is hammering Hungarians with foreign currency loans. Hungary appears to want to renegotiate its painful IMF rescue package. It has no choice but to keep taking the medicine.
Geithner stress test sermons lack moral force 3 Jun 2010 The U.S. Treasury chief is right to want G20 countries to put banks through tough scenario analyses, disclose the results and require capitalraising. But his credibility falls short: future tests are absent from U.S. reforms and some of what s there is unilateral, too.
Gulf fiasco should give new life to US carbon tax 3 Jun 2010 Thanks to twisted Capitol Hill politics the BP oil spill has been a disaster for efforts to lessen U.S. oil dependence. A capandtrade bill to cut carbon emissions now seems unlikely. But the BP crisis should energize prospects for a better alternative: a carbon tax.
Gulf oil spill creates political slick for Obama 28 May 2010 BP's deep sea leak forced the U.S. president to hold his first press conference in 300 days. Voters disapprove of his handling of the disaster. After messy healthcare and financial reform processes, that could hamper the Democrats legislative ambitions in energy and beyond.