Word: weeks
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...housing crisis, too, is a political sore point. Last week Treasury announced the initial results of its program to rewrite troubled residential loans. So far, of the more than 3 million past due loans at banks participating in the government's $75 billion loan-modification program, just slightly more than 30,000 have been permanently adjusted so the mortgage holders can make lower, government-subsidized payments. That means millions of troubled homeowners and millions of potential bad loans still on banks' books, perpetuating the uncertainties and fears that can undermine any economic recovery. Obama wants the banks to move faster...
...Obama will also criticize the banks for trying to derail financial-regulation reform, which passed the House last week but faces multiple battles after Christmas in the Senate. And he'll scold them for continuing to distribute high bonuses, especially when they reward excessive risk-taking. The senior bank executive at one of the banks meeting with the President Monday describes the process as a "public spanking" and says other than the public humiliation the Administration has little leverage. (See the top 10 crooked CEOs...
...Last summer, JPMorgan tried to lowball the Administration on warrants it wanted to buy back from the government. JPMorgan's chief, Jamie Dimon, called Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in July personally to pressure him to sell at the low price. Geithner held out and auctioned the warrants off last week for tens of millions more than Dimon had offered, sources familiar with the negotiations tell TIME...
...impose if the banks don't do a better job of lending to small businesses or modifying home loans. And Obama's pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg, could target the bank's bonuses with what the senior bank executive calls a "crazy" pay restriction like the one Britain passed last week. But the banks are expert at staying just on the right side of the Administration's guidelines for lending, and they have many friends on the Hill who can help defuse a movement to punish the banks. Which is why Obama's weapon of choice for now will be trying...
...TIME's Pictures of the Week...