James Gattuso handles regulatory and telecommunications issues for The Heritage Foundation as a Senior Research Fellow in its Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies. Read his research.
View all authorsWill the new majority owner of General Motors — the United States Government — take an active role in managing the firm as it struggles… Read More
Here’s a shocker. Among the cheerleaders for President Obama’s plan to increase federal fuel efficiency mandates were General Motors and Chrysler — two companies that… Read More
What if they ran a bailout program and no one came? Last year, the Bush Administration Treasury Department opened TARP’s doors to insurance companies, a… Read More
Ever since the results of the government’s stress tests were released, banks across the country have been rushing to escape from their TARP traps. Now… Read More
For months now, the Treasury Department has been grappling with the consequences of “Too Big to Fail” — the idea that some enterprises are too… Read More
In the weeks leading up to last week’s release of “stress test” results, there was quite a bit of talk about more bailout money for… Read More
In a surprisingly frank statement this morning, General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson confirmed that the Treasury Department is calling the shots on the company’s on-going… Read More
The results aren’t officially out yet, but it looks like 14 of the 19 financial firms subjected to “stress tests” by the Treasury Department passed… Read More
Did the White House threaten a Chrysler creditor who refused to sign on to the rescue plan brokered by the government? That’s the charge levelled… Read More
President Obama was clearly miffed yesterday. His plan for restructuring Chrysler without a bankruptcy had been blocked by the refusal of some of the firm’s… Read More
Chrysler is declaring bankruptcy. The step that was once declared “off the table” is now a reality. And that’s good news. The bankruptcy process provides… Read More
Congratulations. If you are a U.S. taxpayer, you will soon be a part owner of a car company. Under the latest reorganization plan released by… Read More
The Obama Administration tried to portray the plan as no big deal, akin to simply filling in a loophole. The idea was to provide the… Read More
General Motors today took one more step toward what is increasingly looking like an inevitable bankruptcy when its chief financial officer declared that it did… Read More
For days, President Obama and 19 other world leaders have been meeting in London — with an occasional side visit with the Queen — to… Read More
Yesterday, four small banks became the first in the country to pay back taxpayer money received from the government. The banks – Old National Bancorp… Read More
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmDiDJ7QrdU&feature=related[/youtube]Times certainly aren’t what they used to be for corporate executives, with so many of the perks formerly enjoyed being cut back or eliminated. But… Read More
Last night, the CEO of General Motors, Rick Wagoner, was fired by the President of the United States. Perhaps not “fired” in the strict legal… Read More
Should the federal government have broad authority to seize private financial institutions on the verge of collapse to keep them from harming the economy? President… Read More
As more details emerge as to bonuses paid by bail-out insurance giant AIG, the nation’s outrage is growing. According to figures released by New York… Read More
Bonuses for AIG employees? News this weekend that troubled insurer AIG, after receiving over $170 billion in taxpayer funds to prop itself up, is planning… Read More
Over the past few months, we’ve seen a seemingly endless parade of bailouts from Washington — for banks, for automobiles, and just about everything else. … Read More
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It could have been a tragedy, but wasn’t. After yesterday’s dramatic Hudson River crash landing of a US Airways jet, all 155 passengers and crew… Read More
The Wall Street Journal is reporting this afternoon that the Treasury Department is mulling the expansion of its bank equity purchase program to cover insurance… Read More
Only in Washington can $7 billion dollars be considered a small amount. But that seems to be the feeling among many in Congress, which is… Read More
Nothing gathers a crowd in Washington like the sight of money being handed out. Thus, in the wake of last weekend’s federal takeover of Freddie… Read More
Since the Federal Communications Commission’s ‘net neutrality’ order last month there have been an avalanche of lawsuits including four last week alone.Responding to the suits,… Read More
This morning’s Drudge Report features the stories everyone is talking about today, with reports on U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps winning another couple of gold medals,… Read More
The FCC last Friday may have jumped with both feet into the business of regulating the Internet, but someone forgot to tell the folks that… Read More
In 1979, Robert Schuettinger and Eamonn Butler wrote a book called “Forty Centuries of Wage and Price Controls,” detailing 4,000 years of disastrous attempts by… Read More
