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Marketplace Scratch Pad

News and views from online host Scott Jagow

Geithner on Marketplace

Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal just taped an interview with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. The interview airs this evening, but I sat in on the taping and took some notes....

Hurricane AIG

As I’ve pointed out the last couple days, I worry that the whirling dervish of AIG’s bonuses might be diverting our attention from issues more critical to the economic recovery. So I’d like to veer your attention for a moment...

At the corner of uncertainty and anger

It feels like we’ve reached an important crossroads in the economic recovery. Many people are fed up with the bailouts of companies like AIG. The markets are confused by the government’s “plan.” The question now is: Is there a road...

Looting the taxpayer

In the latest iteration of the government’s plan to save the financial system, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner says the government will give money to both banks and private investors. The money is an incentive for the banks to sell their...

By the bank sword

Is it that easy to say “let them fail?” Republican Senators Richard Shelby and John McCain said it yesterday on national TV. But saying it and doing it are two very different things....

We don't want your stinkin' money

An angry backlash is brewing at the country’s smaller, healthier banks. At least two banks, Minnesota’s TCF and Louisiana’s Iberiabank, have decided to give back the money they received from TARP. I suspect more banks will follow. They are unhappy...

I can't see the transparency

A few weeks ago, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner unveiled the Financial Stability plan, the next phase of government intervention into the financial system. Geithner announced the launch of a new website, FinancialStability.gov. Here’s what Geithner said about this website:...

The truth Hertz

GM finally acknowledged today in its annual report that its survival is in “substantial doubt.” GM said it could be forced to file for bankruptcy under various scenarios. I suppose if unicorns start buying cars, GM won’t have to file,...

Wow, somebody doesn't like Geithner

Yesterday, I mentioned a book coming out next week called “House of Cards.” It’s about the collapse of Bear Stearns. Another excerpt was published today, and holy mackerel is it nasty. It’s a brutal attack on our current Treasury Secretary...

AIG makes me angry too

The more I read and think about AIG, the closer I get to having a conniption. Even Bernanke said it yesterday: nothing makes him angrier than the way AIG has been run. He admitted this insurance company was operating like...

Drive 'em into the ground

The latest car sales numbers just came in, and they truly are bad enough to make a grown man cry. GM and Ford sales fell by half in February. At the current rate of sales, Detroit is doomed. That leaves...

Dracula, the insurance company

I felt like I was watching a bad horror movie this morning as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke testified before Congress. Bernanke said the government was trying to “defang” AIG, so it wouldn’t be such a risk to the financial system....

Greed and blindness

There’s an ugly, human thread that runs through all of the collapses and fraud on Wall Street. Two items I read this morning point it out clearly. The first is a excerpt from William Cohan’s forthcoming book, House of Cards...

Burning down the house

Q: What happens to money when you throw it into a fire? A: The same thing that happens when you give it to AIG. Today’s 4th bailout of the insurance company is the most frightening sign yet of how out-of-control...

If it quacks like a duck...

At this economic bloggers conference I’m attending, we had a discussion last night about how no one in charge will say the word “nationalization.” It’s obviously a politically potent word. But then I wake up this morning to read about...

Airplane Reading

I read some interesting stuff on my flight to Kansas City, which I’ll get to in a moment. But first, my flight. I don’t fly Southwest often, but I love their boarding policy now. I know some people hate it,...

Just take your clients to Putt-Putt

Now that Northern Bank’s been busted for hosting a golf tournament, the other bank lemmings are lining up to do their part. Today, Morgan Stanley said it will not entertain clients and executives at a pro tournament in June. The...

Will there be blood?

I just read a very compelling interview with respected Harvard historian Niall Ferguson. Here’s the interview by the Toronto Globe and Mail, and here’s a synopsis of it. Ferguson’s picture of the near-future is even uglier than most....

Hamsters with loans

There’s a lot of wheel-spinning when it comes to restructured loans. A bank regulator testified to Congress today that more than half of modified mortgages default again with six months. I know the President’s goal is get to people before...

The new Manhattan Project

As we watch the stock market sink to 1997 levels, this article in Wired Magazine should send chills down your spine. It says a formula created by a Chinese-born mathematician, David X. Li, might have set in motion the collapse...

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