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SENATE MAJORITY LEADER HARRY REID SAYS NO HEALTH CARE VOTE UNTIL AFTER AUGUST RECESS

Bank Failure Friday

crazynutjob:

It looks like 4 banks were added to the FDIC Failed Bank List today:

1. Metro Pacific Bank, Irvine, CA - Total deposits of $73 million and an estimated cost to the FDIC fund of $29 million.

2. Horizon Bank, Pine City, MN - Total deposits of $69.4 million and an estimated cost to the FDIC fund of $33.5 million. However, the acquiring institution, Stearns Bank, entered into a loss sharing agreement with the FDIC on $65.1 million of Horizon’s assets. There’s a little less certainty on this loss estimate.

3. Neighborhood Community Bank, Newnan, GA - Total deposits of $191.3 million and an estimated cost to the FDIC fund of $66.7 million. Another loss share agreement on $178.5 million of Neighborhood Community Bank’s assets.

4. Community Bank of West Georgia, Villa Rica, GA - Total deposits of $182.5 million and an estimated cost to the FDIC fund of $85 million. The bank was shut down, and there are an estimated $1.1 million in deposits that exceeded the insurance limits. For the rest, the checks are in the mail (well, soon).

That makes 44 failures this year. Georgia is at 9 and California is at 5 with this week’s additions. We’re trying to catch up, Georgia, but you’re pulling ahead. For now. Remember, a Santa Barbara bank has had to suspend the dividend payments on their TARP money. We’re just warming up.

US House Panel Wants Bernanke To Testify On BofA, Merrill

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WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- U.S. lawmakers have heard from Bank of America Corp. (BAC) Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis. Now they want Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s side of the story.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Tuesday invited Bernanke to testify before the panel on the government’s role in Bank of America’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. The panel, chaired by Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., has invited Bernanke to testify June 25.

The request comes less than a week after the panel grilled Lewis on his decision not to disclose growing losses at Merrill to investors last December, as well as the decision to accept additional government aid to close the deal.

Bernanke will likely face questions regarding numerous emails between him and other Fed officials from last December, when officials were urging Bank of America not to abandon the deal in the face of mounting losses at Merrill Lynch. In the emails, Bernanke refers to Bank of America’s threat to step away from the deal as a “bargaining chip” and described it as a “foolish move” that regulators wouldn’t condone.

Bank of America originally agreed to acquire Merrill Lynch last September at the height of the tumult in world financial markets. The bank eventually received an additional $20 billion in government aid to cover some of the losses at the investment bank and to close the deal.

Lewis last week acknowledged publicly for the first time that government officials threatened to remove Bank of America management if the firm backed out of the Merrill Lynch acquisition, comments he had previously made in testimony to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

Lawmakers have raised concerns about Lewis’ testimony to Cuomo, questioning whether officials acted appropriately in pushing Bank of America to close the deal.

“Nowhere in the legislation did it suggest that [then Treasury Secretary] Henry Paulson, Ben Bernanke, or anyone else operating on behalf of the United States government was given the power to force shotgun weddings,” Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said during last week’s hearing with Lewis.

-By Michael R. Crittenden, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9273; michael.crittenden@dowjones.com

US House Panel Wants Bernanke To Testify On BofA, Merrill

RI Senate approves marijuana stores

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Would enable patients to get medical
marijuana

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - A bill that would allow nonprofit stores in Rhode Island to sell marijuana to medical patients is headed to the governor’s desk. The state Senate passed the bill Tuesday afternoon by a 30-2 margin.

The bill has already passed the House and now heads to Governor Donald Carcieri for approval. The governor vetoed similar legislation last year.

If it becomes law, the bill would allow so-called compassion centers to sell marijuana to registered patients with debilitating illnesses. Right now, 680 patients are registered with the Department of Health’s medical marijuana program.

State lawmakers approved the use of medical marijuana in 2006, however they never legalized the sale of the drug. Under the current bill, Rhode Island would be the third state in the country and the first on the East Coast to approve marijuana dispensaries for medical patients.

“Sick patients and their caregivers shouldn’t have to risk their safety and deal with criminals to get the relief they need,” said bill sponsor Senator Rhode Perry (D-Dist. 3, Providence). “Rhode Island was compassionate enough a few years ago to recognize the benefit of marijuana for those who are suffering, and I’m proud that we’re now taking the next logical and necessary step and recognizing that patients need a safe, legal means to get it.”

Governor Carcieri has a week to either sign the legislation or veto it. If he does nothing, the bill will automatically become law without his signature. The legislation passed each chamber with significantly more than the three-fifths majority necessary to override a veto.

RI Senate Passes Medical Marijuana Compassion Center Bill l WPRI.com

0.000000435%

financegeek:

quotingthecrisis:

crazynutjob:

continuum:dihard:

is roughly the percent of GM that each of us own.

$362 is what each of us paid for that equity stake.

That’s because $50,000,000,000 is the total amount the US Treasury has spent of GM’s survival. (That’s $30.1 billion for 60% of New GM’s equity + $20.6 billion that we spent trying to keep them out of bankruptcy.) And that’s just the beginning of it.

So $83,000,000,000 is what New GM would have to be worth in order for us to break even on our investment.

But $56,000,000,000 is what GM was worth at its all time peak in 2000.

And it’s only worth about $7,300,000,000 now.

So New GM would have to have about a 48% increase in value from its all time peak. Likely?