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Let's not hide $1.4 trillion of IOU's
Yesterday on his blog the President’s Budget Director, Peter Orszag, asks himself and then answers the question, “How much does the federal government owe?” This sounds like a technical question of...
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Four unpleasant options for TARP funding
Despite Secretary Geithner’s statement to the contrary, I still think the Administration is running out of room within the $700 B Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). In my last four posts on TARP...
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Intro to TARP: Banks have two problems
The big banks (and some large non-banks like AIG, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac) have two problems, not one: They don’t have enough capital. They have on their balance sheet downside risk that is...
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Understanding the GM bankruptcy
Many of you are new to this blog since I wrote extensively about autos six weeks ago. As background, I coordinated the auto loan process for President Bush last fall as the Director of the White House...
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Parsing the President’s health care reform letter
The White House has released a letter from the President to the two Senate Chairmen who are working on (different) versions of health care reform: Senator Kennedy (D-MA), Chairman of the Health,...
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Working in the West Wing: Doing a TV news interview on the North Lawn
This is the second in a series of occasional posts about the nitty gritty of working in the West Wing of the White House. I am describing things as they were in the Bush Administration. YMMV in the...
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Government Motors discussion on Fox News Sunday (continued)
In an earlier post I attempted to correct Dr. Austan Goolsbee’s incorrect and inflammatory statements about President Bush.I would like here to add my views to one additional question on the auto...
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How much bailout money will taxpayers get back?
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released their assessment of the Office of Management and Budget’s semiannual TARP report. That assessment estimates how much cash has gone out the door for...
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Six month economic policy status update
We’re less than two weeks away from the six month mark of the Obama Administration. Here is a summary I would give to someone who had missed the past six months. I think the groupings are particularly...
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Responding to the President’s op-ed
I would like to respond to the President’s Washington Post op-ed, “Rebuilding Something Better.” All quotes in this post are from the President. Nearly six months ago, my administration took office...
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