TV News LIES

Steven Rattner, the former principal of private equity firm Quadrangle Group LLC, will pay $10 million to settle a probe by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo of corruption at the state pension fund in a deal that largely ends a three-year investigation that has yielded eight guilty pleas.

Rattner's payment of restitution to the state of New York is less than half of the $26 million Cuomo sought. Rattner also agreed to be banned from appearing in any capacity before any public pension fund in the state for five years, the attorney general’s office said in an e-mailed statement. Cuomo, New York's governor -elect, sought a lifetime ban from the securities industry.

So many Americans have been jobless for so long that the government is changing how it records long-term unemployment. Citing what it calls "an unprecedented rise" in long-term unemployment, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), beginning Saturday, will raise from two years to five years the upper limit on how long someone can be listed as having been jobless.

The move could help economists better measure the severity of the nation's prolonged economic downturn.

American International Group Inc., the insurer bailed out by the U.S., garnered $4.3 billion in bank credit lines in another step toward repaying taxpayers and gaining independence. The credit, provided by more than 30 banks and administered by JPMorgan Chase & Co., includes two $1.5 billion facilities, one for three years and the other for 364 days, AIG said today in a regulatory filing.

AIG’s property-casualty division Chartis Inc. got $1.3 billion, the insurer said. The firm rose $2.01, or 3.7 percent, to $56.34 at 10:03 a.m. New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

Billions of dollars in top-rated bonds backed by community banks have gone bust, debunking the defense offered by credit-rating agencies that wildly inaccurate ratings were limited to risky mortgage bonds that imploded and then triggered the U.S. financial crisis.

Government regulators and lawyers across the country are examining how credit-rating agencies came to bless as "investment grade" the now-toxic bonds made up of special securities issued by community bank holding companies.

The Federal Reserve Board, chastised for regulatory inaction that contributed to the subprime mortgage meltdown, also missed a chance to prevent much of the financial chaos ravaging hundreds of small- and mid-sized banks.

In early 2005, at a time when the housing market was overheated and economic danger signs were in the air, the Fed had an opportunity to put a damper on risk taking among banks, especially those that had long been bedrocks of smaller cities and towns across the nation.

The banks involved include Bank of America, Ally (formerly GMAC), JP Morgan Chase, One WestBank (formerly Indybank), Citibank, and Wells Fargo.

Together, they filed 29,000 foreclosure notices so far this year, nearly half of the 65,000 to date.

In addition, the Court is demanding that two dozen smaller lenders prove that they are on the up and up with all of their foreclosure actiions, and must provide proof to a Special Master that they did not use any shortcuts in moving people out of their homes.