TV News LIES

Saturday, Jul 12th

Last update08:03:16 AM GMT

You are here News Economy How Paulson Gave Hedge Funds Advance Word of Financial Crisis

How Paulson Gave Hedge Funds Advance Word of Financial Crisis

E-mail Print PDF

Hank PaulsonTreasury Secretary Henry Paulson stepped off the elevator into the Third Avenue offices of hedge fund Eton Park Capital Management LP in Manhattan. It was July 21, 2008, and market fears were mounting. Four months earlier, Bear Stearns Cos. had sold itself for just $10 a share to JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)

Now, amid tumbling home prices and near-record foreclosures, attention was focused on a new source of contagion: Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac, which together had more than $5 trillion in mortgage-backed securities and other debt outstanding, Bloomberg Markets reports in its January issue.

Paulson had been pushing a plan in Congress to open lines of credit to the two struggling firms and to grant authority for the Treasury Department to buy equity in them. Yet he had told reporters on July 13 that the firms must remain shareholder owned and had testified at a Senate hearing two days later that giving the government new power to intervene made actual intervention improbable.

“If you have a bazooka, and people know you have it, you’re not likely to take it out,” he said.

On the morning of July 21, before the Eton Park meeting, Paulson had spoken to New York Times reporters and editors, according to his Treasury Department schedule. A Times article the next day said the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency were inspecting Fannie and Freddie’s books and cited Paulson as saying he expected their examination would give a signal of confidence to the markets.

More...


Most Recent Related Stories...


Trump hits Canada with 35 percent tariff

Canada hit with 35% teriffTrump posted a letter sent to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in which he outlined the...

Fed would have cut US interest rates by now if it weren’t for Trump’s tariffs, says Jerome Powell

Jerome Powell Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said earlier this morning that the central bank would likely have...

US dollar has worst first half in more than 50 years amid Trump tariffs

Dollar fallsThe US dollar has had its worst first half-year in more than 50 years, as the...

Federal Reserve holds interest rates, defying Trump’s demand to lower them

rome PowellThe US Federal Reserve kept interest rates on hold, but signaled it might make two cuts...
 
America's # 1 Enemy
Tee Shirt
& Help Support TvNewsLIES.org!
TVNL Tee Shirt
 
TVNL TOTE BAG
Conserve our Planet
& Help Support TvNewsLIES.org!
 
Get your 9/11 & Media
Deception Dollars
& Help Support TvNewsLIES.org!
 
The Loaded Deck
The First & the Best!
The Media & Bush Admin Exposed!