Henry Paulson – Page 4 – Infinite Unknown

Foreclosure Filings Rose 71% in Third Quarter as Prices Fell

October 23, 2008 by Infinite

A foreclosure sign is posted outside a house in Stockton, California, on Sept. 18, 2008. Photographer: Kimberly White/Bloomberg News

Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) — U.S. foreclosure filings increased 71 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier to the highest on record as home prices fell and stricter mortgage standards made it harder for homeowners to sell or refinance, RealtyTrac said.

A total of 765,558 U.S. properties got a default notice, were warned of a pending auction or were foreclosed on in the quarter, the most since records began in January 2005, the Irvine, California-based seller of default data said in a statement today. Filings rose 3 percent from the second quarter and fell 12 percent in September from August as state laws created to keep people in homes slowed the pace of defaults.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see foreclosures increase as the economy slows down,” Rick Sharga, executive vice president for marketing at RealtyTrac, said in an interview. “The people living paycheck to paycheck are at risk if they lose their jobs. It will cause more people to lose their homes.”

The worst U.S. housing slump since the 1930s is being compounded by a recession that began in the third quarter and may last a year or more, according to Jay Brinkmann, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association. Home prices in 20 U.S. metropolitan areas fell in July at the fastest pace on record, and sales of previously owned homes in August were 32 percent below the peak reached in September 2005.

Ron Paul: We could take our lumps, save money, pay our bills, restore liberty, and in a year we could have the most booming economy ever

October 27, 2008October 21, 2008 by Infinite

Ron Paul, whose libertarian-leaning candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination spurred millions of supporters, says the federal government could do much to repair the economy short of regulating.

While running for the Republican presidential nomination, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas frequently sounded the alarm regarding the nation’s fiscal health. Years ahead of the current economic crisis, Paul was questioning the nation’s debt level, now an acutely pressing issue amid all the recent stock market volatility.

With the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve rapidly moving toward more government intervention in the marketplace while trying to stabilize the nation’s banks and shore up its financial institutions, Paul has argued for a hands-off approach. He opposed both versions of the financial rescue plan that came before the House – the first one, which was rejected, and the second, which was passed and signed into law.

Politico’s David Mark interviewed the 10-term congressman, who has still not endorsed Republican John McCain for president. Here are some excerpts.

Q: With the stock market still in flux and the risk of massive financial failures growing, what’s the worst-case economic scenario you envision over the next couple of years?

A: The worst part could be that this would linger for a decade or more. In fact, a very serious recession or depression is on schedule. You cannot avoid it. Eventually it has to come, but it doesn’t have to end badly. We could take our lumps, save money, pay our bills, restore liberty, and in a year we could have the most booming economy ever. But it would take a complete change in attitude.

If we continue to believe it’s freedom, capitalism and private markets that are the problems, we’re in for very bad times.

Morgan Stanley’s Bonuses Get Saved By You and Me

October 21, 2008 by Infinite

A woman exits the Morgan Stanley headquarters in New York, Sept. 18, 2008. Photographer: JB Reed/Bloomberg News

Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) — Wall Street had it wrong: An investment bank’s most precious asset isn’t the army of employees who head down the elevators each day. It’s the paychecks they take with them out the door.

You can imagine the devilish grins on the faces of Morgan Stanley employees last week, after the Treasury Department said it would pump $10 billion into the bank. Not only did we, the taxpayers, save their company, with the help of a Japanese bank named Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. More importantly, we funded their 2008 bonus pool.

Morgan Stanley has accrued $10.7 billion of employee- compensation expense this year, almost twice as much as its pretax earnings. The vast majority of this remuneration hasn’t been paid yet. Now it probably will be, assuming the firm survives through next month. Meantime, Morgan Stanley’s stock- market value has dropped $34.7 billion, to $21 billion, since the company’s fiscal year began.

Ron Paul on The Alex Jones Show: A Global Financial Order

October 19, 2008 by Infinite

Ron Paul on The Alex Jones Show”A Global Financial Order”1/2
Added: Oct. 17, 2008

Source: YouTube

Ron Paul on The Alex Jones Show”A Global Financial Order”2/2

Added: Oct. 17, 2008

Source: YouTube

Financial crisis: Christine Lagarde warned Hank Paulson to bail out Lehman Brothers

October 17, 2008 by Infinite

Christine Lagarde, the French finance minister, warned her US counterpart Hank Paulson that he had to bail out US investment bank Lehman Brothers or face global financial collapse, but her advice went unheeded.

Financial crisis: France's finance minister Christine Lagarde
Christine Lagarde, the French finance minister, warned her US counterpart Hank Paulson that he must bail out US investment bank Lehman Brothers or face global financial collapse, but her advice went unheeded. Photo: Reuters

Sources close to Mrs Lagarde said that she had called the US Treasury Secretary – a close personal friend – well before the ailing bank’s collapse imploring him to act, but he chose not to.

Lehman Brothers’ demise sparked the biggest shake-up on Wall Street in decades and sent shock waves around the world that triggered a massive bailout plan in Britain and Europe.

Mrs Lagarde – attributed with playing a key role in brokering a bailout deal among G7 finance ministers in Washington last weekend – dubbed Mr Paulson’s decision to let the bank go under “horrendous” as it triggered panic in markets and banks to the brink of a 1929-style financial meltdown.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, she warned that the world’s hedge funds could be the next institutions to be hit by the financial turmoil.

Mrs Lagarde, a perfect English speaker, said that governments must be “vigilant” over the health of hedge funds. “Initially everybody thought the hedge fund sector would be the first one to actually cause the collapse. They are vastly unregulated, they have been operating at the fringes, at the margin, and we need to be careful that there is no contamination effect,” she said.

Her warning will send a shiver through the $2 trillion (£1.15billion) hedge fund industry, which has doubled in size in the last three years and proved to be one of the most powerful forces in the global financial system.

Birmingham on the brink of bankruptcy

October 16, 2008 by Infinite

With $3.2 billion in debt, the county that is home to Alabama’s largest city is about to go bust. How the credit crisis went South.

(Fortune Magazine) — Bob Riley wanted to help. It was Sunday, Oct. 5, and the Alabama governor was on the phone with Neel Kashkari, a Treasury Department official who the next day would be named by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson as interim leader of the government’s just-approved $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. But Riley couldn’t wait for Kashkari’s role to become official. He needed to impress upon the new bailout boss the seriousness of the exploding financial crisis in Jefferson County, home to Birmingham. Riley argued that it was urgent that the federal government come to the aid of his state – now.

As he would describe it in a follow-up letter to Kashkari, the situation in Jefferson County was “the single biggest threat to the municipal bond market today and a poster child for how the subprime mortgage crisis is hurting Main Street America.”

For months now, Riley and other civic leaders in Alabama have been battling to avert what appears almost certain – that Jefferson County will file for Chapter 9 protection, in what would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in our nation’s history. The county has fallen hopelessly behind on payments to service the $3.2 billion it borrowed – on reckless terms – from Wall Street over the past decade to build a new sewer system. As Fortune went to press, the Jefferson County Commission was days away from a vote that could make the bankruptcy official.

Switzerland Bails Out UBS; Credit Suisse Raises Funds

October 16, 2008 by Infinite

Pedestrians walk past a branch of the UBS bank in Bern, Switzerland, on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008. Photographer: Adrian Moser/Bloomberg News

Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) — Switzerland gave UBS AG, the European bank with the biggest losses from the credit crisis, a $59.2 billion rescue and pushed Credit Suisse Group AG to raise funds, joining authorities around the world in shoring up banks.

UBS will get 6 billion Swiss francs ($5.2 billion) from the government and put as much as $60 billion of risky assets into a fund backed by the central bank, the Zurich-based company said. Credit Suisse Group AG raised 10 billion francs from investors including Qatar and Tel Aviv-based Koor Industries Ltd.

Switzerland is the last of the world’s financial centers to pour cash into ailing financial institutions after losses on bad debts reached $647 billion globally and credit markets froze. The Swiss government plans to raise deposit guarantees and is ready to back the short- and medium-term interbank loans of the nation’s banks, after countries across Europe took similar measures.

Roubini: US Will Suffer Worst Recession in 40 Years

October 14, 2008 by Infinite

Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) — Nouriel Roubini, the professor who predicted the financial crisis in 2006, said the U.S. will suffer its worst recession in 40 years, driving the stock market lower after it rallied the most in seven decades yesterday.

“There are significant downside risks still to the market and the economy,” Roubini, 50, a New York University professor of economics, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “We’re going to be surprised by the severity of the recession and the severity of the financial losses.”

The economist said the recession will last 18 to 24 months, pushing unemployment to 9 percent, and already depressed home prices will fall another 15 percent. The U.S. government will need to double its purchase of bank stakes and force lenders to eliminate dividends to save them from bankruptcy, Roubini added. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said today he plans to use $250 billion of taxpayer funds to purchase equity in thousands of financial firms to halt a credit freeze that threatened to drive companies into bankruptcy and eliminate jobs.

``This will be the first round of recapitalization of the banks,” Roubini said. “The government has to decide to intervene much more directly in the provision of credit and the management of these companies.”

U.S. 2008 Budget Deficit at Record $455 Billion

October 14, 2008 by Infinite

Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. government posted a record budget deficit for 2008 as financial market strains slowed economic growth and spending rose the most since 1990.

The shortfall widened to $455 billion in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, compared with a $162 billion deficit a year earlier and the previous high of $413 billion in 2004, the Treasury said today in Washington. The gap was 3.2 percent of gross domestic product, up from 1.2 percent last year, the Treasury said. The 2008 deficit was the largest as a share of the economy since 2004, when it was 3.6 percent of GDP.

The excess of expenditures over receipts this year could get even worse. As the Treasury uses $700 billion to rescue the financial system from the credit crisis, Morgan Stanley chief economist David Greenlaw predicts the shortfall may almost quadruple to about $2 trillion.

Europe stuns with €1.5 trillion bank rescue, as France plays role of saviour

October 14, 2008 by Infinite

Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Holland and Austria have joined forces to launch the greatest bank bail-out in history, offering over €1.5 trillion in guarantees and fresh capital in a “shock and awe” blitz to halt the credit panic.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy Photo: PHILIPPE WOJAZER

The move – unveiled simultaneously in the six states to maximise the show of unity – throws the full weight of the eurozone behind global efforts to stem the crisis.

The move gave a tremendous boost to bourses across Europe, lifting the Euro Stoxx index by 9.53pc in the biggest one-day rally ever.

The pan-European plan – totalling over $2 trillion, or £1.17 trillion – completes the third leg of a dramatic restructuring of finance across the Western world. Sovereign states have now absorbed the brunt of the credit risk in half the global economy.

U.S. Is Investing $250 Billion in Banks

October 14, 2008 by Infinite

Treasury Chief Says Banks Must Deploy New Capital

Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., speaking in Washington on Tuesday morning, described the government’s bailout as “extensive, powerful and transformative.” The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, is at right.

WASHINGTON – Describing the government’s financial bailout plan as “extensive, powerful and transformative,” Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. said on Tuesday that the injection of $250 billion into the nation’s banks was needed to restore confidence and avoid a collapse of the financial system.

Speaking shortly after President Bush used similar terms to describe the proposal, Mr. Paulson said the Treasury would make $250 billion available to banks to help recapitalize those banks and to get them lending again, among themselves and to businesses and consumers.

“The needs of our economy require that our financial institutions not take this new capital to hoard it, but to deploy it,” Mr. Paulson said, who offered some details of the plan along with the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, and the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Sheila C. Bair.

With the proposal, the United States follows similar plans announced Monday across Europe – almost all intended to inject money into the banks and unfreeze the credit markets. Markets around the world have rebounded on news of the coordinated efforts. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 936 points, or 11 percent on Monday, the largest single-day gain in the American stock market since the 1930s, and gained more than 300 points more in the opening minutes of trading on Tuesday. European markets were up at least 5 percent on Tuesday after rising nearing 10 percent Monday.

Europe to US: You messed up the rescue, too

October 13, 2008 by Infinite

The plans for a massive bank bailout by European governments differ strikingly from the U.S. approach.

PARIS (Fortune) — First you mess up the world’s financial system. Then you blow the rescue of it. Now let’s show you how to do it properly.

That, in a nutshell, is the less-than-flattering message European governments are sending to the U.S. as they mount their own gigantic bank bailout. The plans, announced Monday after two weeks of dithering, involve Britain, Germany, France and some others recapitalizing national banks that require help, and providing state guarantees and other measures to kick-start the stalled credit market. The details are strikingly different from the U.S. approach adopted by U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and the Federal Reserve Board. And there’s a big reason for that: The Europeans think Paulson got it badly wrong, and have watched aghast as he failed to restore confidence in the world’s financial system.

Fed Lets Europe Central Banks Offer Unlimited Dollars, Removes Swap Limits

October 13, 2008 by Infinite

Fed Releases Flood of Dollars, Market Rates Fall

Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve led an unprecedented push by central banks to flood the financial system with as many dollars as banks want, backing up government efforts to revive confidence and helping to reduce money-market rates.

The European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank will offer European banks unlimited dollar funds with maturities of seven, 28 and 84 days at fixed interest rates against “appropriate collateral,” the Washington-based Fed said today. The Fed had capped at $380 billion the currency it would swap with the three central banks.

Global economic leaders have redoubled efforts to unfreeze credit markets and avert the worst worldwide recession in thirty years after last week’s 20 percent slide in the MSCI World Index. Policy makers from the Group of Seven nations are committed to taking “all necessary steps” to stem a market panic, and European and U.S. governments today outlined plans to avoid banks failing.

Glenn Beck: There is a global meltdown coming. It is a global depression.

October 11, 2008 by Infinite

CNN’s Glenn Beck warns of the New World Order

“There is a global meltdown coming. It is a global depression. And one world currency and one world financial system is the endgame… China said last week they want one global currency. France said yesterday they want one world order – a ‘New World Order’ at the end of this event.”

Added: Oct. 09, 2008

Source: YouTube

Fannie, Freddie to Buy $40 Billion a Month of Troubled Assets

October 11, 2008 by Infinite

Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) — Federal regulators directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to start purchasing $40 billion a month of underperforming mortgage bonds as the Bush administration expands its options to buy troubled financial assets and resuscitate the U.S. economy, according to three people briefed about the plan.

Fannie and Freddie began notifying bond traders last week that each company needs to buy $20 billion a month in mostly subprime, Alt-A and non-performing prime mortgage securities, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are confidential. The purchases would be separate from the U.S. Treasury’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which placed the two companies in conservatorship on Sept. 7, directed them last month to start increasing their purchases of loans and mortgage-backed securities as the Treasury seeks to absorb underperforming and illiquid assets from financial companies.

What is to be Done? A Possible Solution to the Economic Crisis

October 11, 2008 by Infinite

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

Readers have been pressing for a solution to the financial crisis. But first it is necessary to understand the problem. Here is the problem as I see it. If my diagnosis is correct, the solution below might be appropriate.

Let’s begin with the fact that the financial crisis is more or less worldwide. The mechanism that spread the American-made financial crisis abroad was the massive US trade deficit. Every year the countries with which the US has trade deficits end up in the aggregate with hundreds of billions of dollars.

Countries don’t put these dollars in a mattress. They invest them. They buy up US companies, real estate, and toll roads. They also purchase US financial assets. They finance the US government budget deficit by purchasing Treasury bonds and bills. They help to finance the US mortgage market by purchasing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bonds. They buy financial instruments, such as mortgage-backed securities and other derivatives, from US investment banks, and that is how the US financial crisis was spread abroad. If the US current account was close to balance, the contagion would have lacked a mechanism by which to spread.

Lehman Brothers demise triggers huge default

October 11, 2008 by Infinite

Lehman Brothers, the bust investment bank, triggered one of the biggest corporate debt defaults in history yesterday as it emerged that the US Federal Reserve is harbouring grave concerns about whether Washington’s $700 billion (£413 billion) bailout fund will avert a financial meltdown.

An auction of Lehman’s bonds yesterday determined that the bank’s borrowings were worth only 8.625 cents on the dollar. The valuation leaves the insurers of the debt a bill of about $365 billion. It is not clear whether the insurers, which are required to settle the bill in the next two weeks, will be able to pay – a development that could further undermine increasingly stressed capital markets.

The $365 billion default came as stock markets around the world suffered one of their worst days since the crash of 11 years ago. Panicking about the prospect of global recession, the FTSE 100 index of leading shares in London crashed within seconds of opening, losing 8.9 per cent of its value, its worse fall since October 1987.

Black Friday: Run on the System

October 10, 2008 by Infinite

Stock markets across the world are in a state of hysteria. The tidal wave of sell-offs, which began when Henry Paulson announced the Bush administration’s $700 billion bailout plan for the sinking banking system, has swelled into a global tsunami racing round the globe.

Shares fell sharply across Europe and Asia for the fifth straight day following a 679 drop on the Dow Jones. Nearly $900 billion was wiped off the value of U.S. equities in just one trading day. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, the “fear index”, soared to a record 64.

Credit markets remain frozen. Libor, the London interbank offered rate, nudged up slightly on Thursday night, signaling even greater resistance to lending between the banks. Until there is relief in the credit markets, stocks will continue to slide. But trust has vanished. The 50 basis points rate cut that was coordinated with foreign central banks has had no effect. The market is being driven by fear and pessimism.

U.S. Treasury May Buy Stakes in Banks Within Weeks

October 9, 2008 by Infinite

Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) — The government is planning to buy stakes in a wide range of banks within weeks as the credit freeze increasingly threatens to tip the U.S. economy into a deep recession.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and top aides are still considering options on how the purchases would work, including having the government acquire preferred stock, two officials informed of the matter said.

The move would be a shift in emphasis in Paulson’s original intention for the $700 billion bailout package passed by Congress last week. While the Treasury still aims to buy troubled mortgage-backed securities from financial institutions, a direct capital injection would offer more immediate relief by giving banks quick access to funds they could then lend out.

“The Treasury is no longer looking for one silver bullet,” said Steve Bartlett, president of the Financial Services Roundtable, which represents 100 of the biggest firms in the industry. “They have to proceed on all fronts.”

Bernanke, Paulson Seek Global Help as Crisis Spreads

October 9, 2008 by Infinite

Paulson yesterday signaled he’s considering pumping capital (=Taxpayers’ Money) into U.S. financial institutions, saying “we will use all of the tools we’ve been given to maximum effectiveness” under the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.
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Henry Paulson, secretary of the U.S. Treasury, left, and Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, testify before the House Financial Services Committee in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 24, 2008. Photographer: Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg News

Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson are discovering both the leeway and limits they have as policy makers as they struggle to combat the 14-month-old credit crisis.

The two have worked to come up with novel strategies, including a complex plan for the Fed to backstop the everyday finances of corporate America by buying commercial paper, and potential injections of capital into banks. So far, they’ve made scant progress in restoring calm to the markets and are turning abroad for help, including joint interest-rate cuts yesterday.

“The relative position of the U.S. in the world economy and the world of finance is much lower than it used to be,” said Allen Sinai, chief economist at Decision Economics in New York. “With markets so global, so interconnected, we need a more unified approach to fighting the world financial crisis.”

Which proves more important in the end — the continued creativity of Bernanke and Paulson in fashioning policies to tackle the turmoil or the intractability of the now global crisis facing them — will go a long way in determining whether a developing global recession turns into something even worse.

Thursday is D-Day

October 7, 2008 by Infinite

Forget the stock market gyrations. Forget Bernanke and Paulson’s ineffective, unconstitutional schemes.

Thursday’s auction for Lehman’s credit default swaps (CDS) is much more important.

Why?

Well, if banks are reassured by the CDS auction, it could do more to free up frozen capital than all of the Fed and Treasury’s ill-conceived plans put together.

The Dollar is Doomed

October 6, 2008 by Infinite

When the precious metals were smashed out of nowhere and the dollar started climbing this summer I became very worried. I didn’t question my conviction that commodities are in a bull market, or that precious metals in particular are undervalued. I felt something sinister was at work. Neither move was justified on a fundamental level. I assumed that something very bad was about to happen and the metals needed to be brought lower in advance of the bad news.

Now we have a glimpse at the ugly consequences foreseen by the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve. In early September, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were nationalized with a financial commitment of USD$200 billion from the taxpayers. Incredibly, the loan limits at the former GSEs were raised from $417,000 to $729,750 in March when it was more than obvious these institutions needed to be reined in. Like most bailouts and bank failures, this one was announced on a weekend to limit the impact on the stock markets.

As I mentioned in last month’s issue, Treasury Secretary Paulson was under severe pressure to act, as the Chinese started selling Fannie and Freddie bonds while threatening further retribution. Common shareholders were left with nothing, while bondholders like Pimco and Asian central banks benefited. The small investor was stung again, as taxpayer dollars were used to bail out foreigners and wealthy Americans in a policy that Jim Rogers terms “socialism for the rich.”

Unfortunately, $200 billion is just the tip of the iceberg. As the government has assumed responsibility for Fannie and Freddie’s $5.4 trillion in liabilities, the Congressional Budget Office correctly states that these institutions “should be directly incorporated into the federal budget.” The Bush Administration has strongly opposed this move.

Fed May See Companies, States as Next Crisis Fronts

October 6, 2008 by Infinite

Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke may find the next fronts of the financial crisis to be just as chilling as last month’s downfall of Wall Street titans: its spread to corporate America and state and local governments.

Companies from Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and Duke Energy Corp. to Gannett Co. and Caterpillar Inc. are being forced to tap emergency credit lines or pay more to borrow as investors flee even firms with few links to the subprime-mortgage debacle. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says his and other states may need emergency federal loans as funding dries up.

A cash crunch on Main Street would endanger companies’ basic functions — paying suppliers, making payrolls and rolling over debt. The widening of the crisis suggests that Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson may have further fires to put out even as the Treasury sets up the $700 billion financial- industry rescue plan approved last week.

Bush Signs Bailout After House Passage

October 3, 2008 by Infinite

WASHINGTON — President George W. Bush signed the biggest government intervention in the financial markets since the Great Depression after U.S. House of Representatives lawmakers wary of growing signs of the nation’s economic distress voted Friday in favor of a $700 billion Wall Street rescue package.

President Bush is greeted by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson after the House passed the bailout bill (AP)

Mr. Bush welcomed the passage of a rescue plan, saying it will help the nation’s economy withstand the financial turmoil. The legislation is “essential to helping America’s economy weather the financial crisis,” said the president, giving a brief statement outside the White House.

Mr. Bush acknowledged widespread concern about using taxpayer money to bail out wealthy bankers, but said the ultimate cost will be “far less” than the initial government outlay, since the plan is to sell the toxic assets back into the market once it recovers.

Wachovia faced a silent bank run

October 2, 2008 by Infinite

Fearing a loss of funding over the weekend, the FDIC forced the sale.

10/02/08 Downtown Charlotte skyline showing the Wachovia First Street Campus headquarters project under construction. DAVIE HINSHAW of the Observer from WCNC’s AirStar36

On Friday, with its stock plunging 27 percent, Wachovia experienced a “silent run” on deposits, but the bigger worry for regulators was that other banks wouldn’t provide the Charlotte bank with necessary short-term funding when it opened for business Monday, sources familiar with the situation told the Observer.

With Wachovia already looking for a merger partner, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., in consultation with other regulators, required the bank to reach a sale to Citigroup on Monday morning.

The FDIC, for the first time, used legislative authority created in 1991 to help it deal with a “very large complex bank failure” on short notice. It requires approval from heavy hitters – two-thirds of FDIC board members, two-thirds of Federal Reserve board members as well as the Treasury secretary, who must consult with the president.

“When Wachovia opened Monday it would not have had a source of liquidity,” a source familiar with the situation said. “It really could not have opened under those circumstances. That’s why (the FDIC) put together the assistance package.”