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Reuters – General Motors Corp will file for bankruptcy later on Monday, U.S. officials said, forcing the 100-year-old automaker once seen as a symbol of American economic might and dynamism into a new and uncertain era of government ownership.
The planned filing, confirmed by Obama administration officials, would be the third-largest in U.S. history and the largest-ever U.S. manufacturing bankruptcy.
The decision to push GM into a fast-track bankruptcy, and provide $30 billion of additional taxpayer funds to restructure the automaker is a huge gamble for the Obama presidency.
Houston Chronicle – Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will ask Congress to bring large hedge funds, private-equity firms and derivatives markets under federal supervision for the first time as part of a revamp of U.S. financial rules.
The Treasury chief will present his proposed framework at a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington today. Under the new so-called rules of the road, the government would get powers to seize and wind down any financial company big enough to destabilize the banking system.
The Obama administration is counting on public anger over the taxpayer-financed rescues of American International Group Inc., Bear Stearns Cos. and other firms to help it win approval for the changes, which could be the most sweeping since the 1930s. Policy makers want to improve the oversight of the financial system now rather than wait until the crisis is over, administration officials said on condition of anonymity.
10 News – Investors will be listening closely to details of the $1 trillion toxic asset-purchase program to be announced Monday as the Obama administration seeks to provide enough information to satisfy markets and avoid the kind of stock meltdown seen last month.
Then, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner disappointed by giving only broad outlines of the government’s approach to kick-start lending and the overall economy. With the sharp market plunge that followed Geithner’s speech on Feb. 10 still a fresh memory, administration officials Sunday sought to temper expectations for Monday’s announcement. "Ridding bank balance sheets of problem assets is the next step in that process of fixing the financial system, but it alone won’t solve the credit problem," Treasury Department spokesman Andrew Williams says.
International Herald Tribune – Two senior senators have introduced legislation to impose U.S. government oversight on hedge funds.
The legislation by Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat of Michigan, and Senator Charles Grassley, a Republican of Iowa, was filed Thursday while the administration of President Barack Obama prepared a broader legislative overhaul of the regulatory system, including an effort to regulate hedge funds more tightly.
State regulators and a panel created by Congress to oversee the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program issued separate but similar regulatory proposals Thursday. The proposals also seemed to mirror closely many of the provisions that administration officials say will be part of their plan.
