Government and Economy Obama Team to Broaden BailoutPresident-elect Barack Obama's economic team is broadening the mission of the $700 billion bailout for the financial sector, aiming to unfreeze credit for homeowners, consumers, small businesses and local governments. Frank Offers New Terms for Release of Bailout FundsRepresentative Barney Frank expects the House to act soon to impose conditions on the release of new bailout funds, mandating that at least $50 billion should be used to help avoid foreclosures. [Read Full Article]

Government and Economy Consumers Unexpectedly Trimmed Borrowing in OctoberWASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. consumers unexpectedly cut back on their borrowing in October as the economy sunk deeper into recession. The Federal Reserve says consumer credit fell at an annual rate of 1.6 percent in October. That compares with a 3.1 percent growth rate logged in September Kashkari: Taxpayers Will See Return From BailoutWASHINGTON (AP) - Taxpayers will get money back from the government program providing up to $250 billion in capital to banks around the country, said Neel Kashkari, the director of Treasury's Office of Financial Stability. [Read Full Article]

Yes, I believe later on there should be tax increases. Speaking personally, I think there are a lot of very rich people out there whom we can tax at a point down the road and recover some of this money. --Rep. Barney Frank on CNBC's "Closing Bell," 10/20/08) Don't let the class warfare jargon fool you, this is not good news. Why? Because the Democratic plan will harm small business owners who have their business income reported on their personal taxes and two, there is no way for them to “cut taxes on 95% of American taxpayers” and only raise the rates on the top 5% and still keep all their promises. That is, assuming they intend on keeping those promises in the first place. Keeping fiscal promises is not a Democratic Party strong suit. Consider this analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation: To the surprise of some, even though Senator Obama's tax plan lowers taxes for the bottom four quintiles, marginal tax rates would fall only for the very l... [Read Full Article]

While some in the mainstream media are blithely writing the obituary for free market capitalism, something odd is happening: The free market is actually working, not in the way anyone wanted, but it is working; and that is in spite of the best efforts of Bush, Paulson, Bernanke, Pelosi, Reid, Dodd, Frank and all of the other dubious bit players and functionaries that have been spouting off about the need to do something about the crisis. That is the thing about the free market. It is like gravity. It is always on. There is another odd thing happening as well: With the exception of the greedy Wall Street CEOs that everyone involved in the scandal as well as those covering it can agree are evil, no one really wants to identify anyone else responsible for this mess to task. Instead, we hear a great deal about fixing the problem and moving on. Move on...hmmm...that sounds awfully familiar.... Welcome to the Recession After the $700 billion Wall Street bailout was ra... [Read Full Article]