finance
The FY10 President’s Budget has been released
Today the OMB released portions of the FY10 president’s budget – or budgets, really, one for each federal agency. This is, of course, prelude to a months long process whereby the congress will ultimately (hopefully) pass FY10 appropriations bills that the President will sign, keeping the government funded for another year.
Reading the budget (or budgets) [...]
What’s your state doing with its stimulus funding?
All but four states (NS, SD, MS, SC) have their recovery websites up and running, with varying amounts of detail provided. Most provide news updates, and some level of information about jobs and projects being funded, information about how to apply for project funding, and general contact information. Link to any of the state sites [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Causes of the Financial Crisis?
A recent Congressional Research Service report (R40173, Jan. 29, 2009) doesn’t exactly answer the question, stating that the sheer number of likely causal factors makes it incredibly complex to fully understand the problem. The report provides a long table of all the potential factors, with pro and con arguments succinctly presented, and additional reading related [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Global Dimension of the U.S. Financial Crisis – Policy Implications
Earlier this month the Congressional Research Service (CRS) published, and soon updated, a report titled “The U.S. Financial Crisis: The Global Dimension with Implications for U.S. Policy”. You can find a copy at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) site: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL34742.pdf
The report identifies four phases of response:
intervention to “contain the contagion” and restore confidence
coping with [...]
FY08 Budget Deficit – $455 Billion
On November 7th the Congressional Budget Office released its monthly budget review. In fiscal year 2008 the federal government recorded a total budgert deficit of $455 billion, up from approximately $162 billion in 2007. The OMB Director’s blog reports that the FY08 deficit represented 3.2 percent of the US gross domestid product, up from 1.2 [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Another Warning to Banks
Rep. Barney Frank, Chair of the House Financial Services Commitee, jumped into the fray, warning that institutions will violate the law if they use bailout money for anything except to increase lending, as intended by Congress and the administration.
The Financial Services Committee is expected to hold hearings in November about the bailout program. –nks
Need more [...]
Congress to Banks – Watch the Bonuses!
Henry Waxman, Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform questioned nine banks about their plans to provide bonuses to employees – bonuses that some stories (Bloomberg and Time magazine, both on October 27th) claim will be paid because the banks received billions in bailout dollars. The implication – without the bailout the [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Cost of Government Financial Interventions Past and Present
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) Has just released a report titled “The Cost of Government Financial Interventions, Past and Present” (RS22956, September 23rd), highlighting ten interventions by the federal government since 1971. Needless to say, the CRC can’t predict how the recent “interventions” will turnout for the goverment – and the taxpayers. Thier initial conclusion?
“Depending [...]
