News round-up: 23 Sep 2008

By Edward Harrison On Sep 23, 2008

Right now, it is all bailout all the time Everyone is talking about the Paulson mortgage bailout proposal. This is the news that dominates the headlines.

My opinion about the proposal is that the proposed measures do not require the urgency being imposed on the U.S. Congress. The Bush Administration is attempting to create a false sense of urgency to allow a Financial Services Patriot Act to waltz through Congress much as the original Patriot Act did in the wake of 9/11.

Other news includes interest by TD in WaMu, an equity stake for the Japanese in Morgan Stanley and bondholder losses at Lehman. Let’s take a look.

Paulson’s bailout
A Bailout Bill Takes Shape – Deal Book
Housing Experts Say Bailout Proposal May Do Little for Homeowners – NY Times
Today in The Nation: Goldman Sachs Socialism – The Nation
Germany slams U.S. over credit crisis failures – The Guardian
Europe and Japan Balk at U.S. Request on Bank Aid – NY Times
Stopping a Financial Crisis, the Swedish Way – NY Times (see my posts on the Swedish solution here and here)

The U.S. crisis
As No-Short-Selling List Grows, Another Firm Chooses to Leave – Deal Book
Lehman bondholders could lose $110bn – FT
Commercial Real Estate Loans May Be Next Shoe to Drop – Seeking Alpha
Most Prominent Woman on Wall Street Is Out at Citi – Deal Book
Nomura buys Lehman’s Europe investment bank arm – Reuters
Morgan Stanley to sell Mitsubishi 20 percent stake – Reuters
Toronto-Dominion weighs WaMu bid: report – National Post
Citing writedowns, Washington Federal to report first-ever loss – Biz Journal
Lennar calls for government help for builders; loss narrows – Market Watch (apparently everybody has their hand out now)