From his earliest days as Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner’s biggest challenge has been restoring confidence in America’s fragile banks without taking the politically costly step of asking Congress for more money. To judge by the results of the government-run stress tests released Thursday afternoon, Geithner has somehow pulled it off — at least for now. Not that three months of supervisory scrutiny of the country’s top 19 banks hasn’t produced some grim news.
Tag Archives: federal
Twittering in Obamaland: The Social-Network Administration
The first tweet the White House Twittered was not about the weather. It had nothing to do with how the President was feeling, what he was doing or what he wanted for lunch
Germany refuses to halt Demjanjuk transfer
A German court Wednesday rejected an effort by suspected Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk to block his expected transfer from the United States to Germany. The ruling came as Demjanjuk’s lawyers formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the deportation.
Sessions Could Make Obama’s Supreme Court Fight Tougher
Political junkies who weren’t thrilled at the prospect of a relatively staid confirmation process for President Barack Obama’s as yet unnamed Supreme Court nominee can rest easy. This week Senate Republicans named perennial bomb thrower Jeff Sessions, 62, of Alabama to be the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, promising to bring at least a few sparks to a confirmation process that — if Minnesota’s Al Franken is seated — was bound to be relatively easy. While Sessions alone can’t change the basic legislative math that promises whomever Obama picks to replace retiring Justice David Souter a fairly easy path to confirmation, he can certainly liven up the proceedings
Supreme Court rules against networks on indecent speech
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that federal regulators have the authority to clamp down on broadcast TV networks that air isolated cases of profanity, known as "fleeting expletives." The 5-4 vote was a victory for Bush-era officials who pushed fines and sanctions when racy images and language reached the airwaves. Controversial words have been aired in scripted and unscripted instances on all the major over-the-air networks in the past six years, when the Federal Communications Commission began considering a stronger, no-tolerance policy
White House apologizes for low-flying plane
A White House official apologized Monday after a low-flying Boeing 747 spotted above the Manhattan skyline frightened workers and residents into evacuating buildings. The aircraft was a White House plane taking part in a classified, government-sanctioned photo shoot, the Federal Aviation Administration said. “Last week, I approved a mission over New York.
FAA relents, will open database on airplane-bird collisions to public
After getting pelted by criticism from everyone from airline passengers to federal accident investigators, the Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday reversed course and said it will publicly reveal its records on bird strikes. The FAA said it will make its entire bird-strike database available on a public Web site on Friday, and is withdrawing a proposal to keep certain data confidential. The FAA had argued that protecting certain information, such as the names of airlines and airports involved in bird mishaps, would encourage airlines to participate in the voluntary reporting program
Civil Liberties Advocates Dismayed at Obama’s Recent Moves
After eight years in the political wilderness, civil libertarians didn’t have to wait long for President Barack Obama to make them feel at home again. Within just one full day in office, the new President issued a blistering array of orders reversing the policies of George W.
Americans Become A Nation of Renters
One by-product of people being evicted from their homes during foreclosure proceedings is that they often end up renting a place to live. After losing a house to the bank, they are not likely to be homeowners again for years.
Mortgage Fraud Crackdown Is Gathering Steam in Florida
Florida’s Gulf Coast was crawling with shady real estate investors like Neil Husani during this decade’s housing boom. According to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Tampa, Husani and three co-conspirators working with his Sarasota-based Capital Force, Inc., bilked seven area banks out of $83 million in a mortgage fraud scheme.