Bailout

MOSCOW -- Russia's lower house of parliament, under pressure to raise revenue so the country can qualify for $17.1 billion in new foreign loans, passed legislation yesterday imposing a 5 percent sales tax on consumer goods.The measure, which would raise an estimated $6.5 billion for Russia's regional and local governments, is the centerpiece of a program proposed by President Boris N. Yeltsin to revive the struggling economy by slashing spending and raising taxes.But lawmakers stopped short of approving the government's entire $16.5 billion austerity package, required by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank for an emergency bailout.

ON Sept. 23, the New York Federal Reserve Bank brokered a $3.6 billion bailout of Long-Term Capital Management, a hedge fund that had leveraged $2.2 billion in capital into bets valued at from $90 billion to $1.25 trillion or more, according to various estimates. The bailout's justification: If the hedge fund went under, markets worldwide could implode, and financial institutions that had extended billions in credit to the fund would fall like dominoes. In other words, Long Term Capital was too big to fail.

The International Monetary Fund's vault is wide open, and a number of financially strapped Asian countries are tapping into it. The latest borrower is South Korea, whose banks lent too much money to shaky companies, which are now bankrupt. South Korea is about to receive a $55 billion plus bailout. Why should the IMF and big nations like the United States bail out countries like Mexico, South Korea and Thailand? What is at stake if we don't?Allan MeltzerProfessor of political economy, Carnegie-Mellon University, PittsburghI don't think we should bail out South Korea.

EVEN THOSE who dislike the appearance of the HarborView tower should prefer the condominiums' success to a failure that might leave an empty hulk overlooking the Inner Harbor. A city bailout that will annually forgive $350,000 to $500,000 in property taxes over five years may be distasteful to people who pay their taxes on time, but it's good medicine. If HarborView uses this reprieve to make itself more appealing to potential downtown dwellers, its future value as a fully taxed property will be enhanced.

WASHINGTON -- After spending nearly $100 million on failed computer systems, the federal agency supervising the enormous savings and loan cleanup has virtually abandoned efforts in Washington to keep detailed records on thousands of parcels of real estate and other assets it is trying to sell.Rather than try to rehabilitate its crippled systems, the central headquarters of the Resolution Trust Corp. will maintain only limited in formation on its vast inventory of real estate and loans from failed thrifts.

While savings and loan associations were going into the tank, while several large insurers were sliding toward bankruptcy from massive losses, the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. insisted it was in no danger of asking for a taxpayer bailout. But now, the agency that ensures the pensions of 40 million Americans warns that it, too, will need a major rescue within 10 years unless Congress enacts reforms to stem the mounting, but largely hidden, insolvencies of major retirement plans.The PBGC faces a potential deficit exceeding $40 billion if it continues on the present course.

WASHINGTON -- Breaking nearly four months of silence on an issue that both parties would prefer to postpone until after the elections, President Bush warned Congress yesterday that its failure to approve more money for the savings and loan bailout was costing taxpayers $4 million to $6 million extra a day.The White House could not avoid the politically painful subject any longer because of a legal stipulation that administration officials testify twice a...

WASHINGTON -- Efforts to get more money for the savings and loan bailout collapsed yesterday amid partisan finger pointing over who was to blame for the delay -- congressional Democrats or the White House.With the lawmakers leaving for a two-week recess, the failure to act could cost the taxpayers as much as $200 million, according to administration estimates.Democrats contended yesterday that President Bush and Treasury Secretary Nicholas F. Brady deliberately allowed the legislative deadline to pass so as to blame Congress for inaction on another issue and to avoid the politically unpopular step of disposing of more failed savings and loans.

WASHINGTON -- Lacking even the authority to pay out money it has on hand, the savings-and-loan bailout began grinding to a halt yesterday, a day after the House voted against continued federal spending on the industry cleanup.The Resolution Trust Corp., the federal agency in charge of selling institutions taken over by the government, said it would stop arranging such sales, delay a streamlining of its staff and postpone some property management and appraisal contracts, steps that could cost taxpayers millions of dollars a day.The Office of Thrift Supervision, which decides which institutions should be seized, said it might also hold off intervening in 28 less dire cases.

WASHINGTON -- While attacking Congress for delaying spending authority for the savings and loan bailout, the Bush administration has squirreled away more than $2 billion to keep the operation going.Most members of Congress, which approves appropriations for the Resolution Trust Corp., the agency that oversees the bailout of the savings industry, had assumed that the corporation ran out of money April 1.Administration officials have said on many occasions that the RTC was out of money, and they, as well as officials of the corporation, had not disclosed the existence of the fund for fear that news of it would reduce any sense of urgency that could impel congressional action.

Fraud confirms fears of protesters The worst fears of all the citizens who supported the "tea parties" last week have now been realized. We were against the uncontrolled spending and waste of taxpayer dollars by the government. And now the article "Bailout fraud cases emerge" (April 21) describes at least 20 investigations into possible fraud in the use of bailout funds, cases that could cost taxpayers "tens of billions of dollars." We can expect the same waste and fraud if government takes more control over health care, energy policy, etc. Is it any wonder why American taxpayers are rebelling?

Bonus is last thing executives deserve The enormous taxpayer bailouts of formerly high-flying financial companies, and their highly paid employees, continue to infuriate me ("AIG's bonus payments blasted," March 16). Leaders of AIG, the outfit that treated employees to a $450,000 junket at a California resort days after receiving billions from you and me, now have the gall to tell us they have to pay bonuses to the very executives who caused this mess. Have they no shame? Have they no sense of the responsibility they carry for the widespread suffering among people who truly are guiltless, people who did honest work for a reasonable wage and are being punished nevertheless?

Growing up in northern Homeland, I saw my first film at the Senator Theatre at 10. I went four times in four days to see Dick Tracy and got sick from eating too much popcorn. During breaks from college and the Peace Corps, I regularly took in screenings at the historic theater and made an effort to be an ambassador for the Senator, as Tom Kiefaber advocated to patrons before each performance. I even took part in the 2007 campaign to save the Senator from the auction block, going door to door in the neighborhood to collect small donations and get the word out to area residents.

Who wants to be a bailout recipient? We do! say the steel companies. Not content with what is likely to be the biggest public works program in decades, Big Steel wants to ensure taxpayers buy bridge, road, school and electric-grid steel only or largely from U.S. producers. Every provision in Congress' forthcoming stimulus should contain "a buy America clause," Nucor CEO Daniel R. DiMicco told The New York Times. What a good idea. The Buy America Act of 1933, signed by Herbert Hoover as he exited his miserable presidency, fueled a global trade war that hurt American exports and made the Great Depression even greater.

Here's one example of how "progressive" ideas fall victim to tough times: The City Council in Atlantic City has reversed the smoking ban inside the city's casinos, enacted just this year. The anti-smoking movement has suffered this surprising setback because gaming revenues are falling and a lot of casino employees are losing their jobs. It is hoped this will spark some upturn in business, and offset a competitive disadvantage with slots parlors in New Jersey's neighboring states that allow smokers to shorten their lives while gambling.

WASHINGTON - At times yesterday, the telephone calls into the Capitol Hill office of Rep. Elijah E. Cummings merged into a single, constant ring. And with a House vote possible today on the $700 billion financial rescue package approved by the Senate, the Baltimore Democrat was hearing from both sides. After meeting last night with his fellow House Democrats, he said he was still "wrestling" with his vote. "We're still trying to make sure that there's clarity with regard to helping people who are facing foreclosure," said Cummings, who voted against a bailout earlier this week.

'Bailout' is an effort to protect Main Street In "OK, so where's the Boscov bailout?" (Sept. 23), Dan Rodricks once again proves that he just doesn't get it. The government's proposal to buy back bad mortgage debt is not a "bailout" for greedy Wall Street firms that made wrong bets. To the contrary, it is a bold and aggressive action intended to save the entire American economy from the painful contraction that could ensue if the current collapse of confidence in financial markets is allowed to continue unabated.

WASHINGTON Tony Olender was on vacation in Washington, doing the Smithsonian, all the tourist sites, even the Bureau of Engraving. Then the Florida retiree decided he better check on the state of his 401(k). So he got in line yesterday outside Room 2128 at the Rayburn House Office Building, to get the information straight from the top - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. The country's top financial officials were testifying there as part of a whirlwind concert tour: Bailout '08: MarketAid.

To everyone born after Woodstock: In the past week, government has proposed to commit hundreds of billions of dollars to an unprecedented financial bailout, and we're the ones who will pay for it. If you've been disappointed by how tight the feds have been with your money of late, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and the Democratic Congress have just the plan for you. "U.S. Democratic lawmakers said they would act quickly on a $700 billion rescue plan for financial companies," Bloomberg reported, "while demanding that the legislation limit compensation for executives of companies that will benefit."

You've got to appreciate living in a country with a government as benevolent as it is merciful. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and AIG all had checkbooks with more red scribbled in them than your kid's first spelling test. But in swooped the government with a charitable bailout. Well, why should such generosity be limited to failing private companies? Here in the sports world, there are plenty of organizations, teams and athletes in need - believe me - and plenty could benefit from a similar government bailout.