Treasury

Political Interference Seen in Bank Bailout Decisions

by Damian Paletta and David Enrich

Barney Frank Goes to Bat for Lender, and It Gets an Infusion

Troubled OneUnited Bank in Boston didn't look much like a candidate for aid from the Treasury Department's bank bailout fund last fall.

The Treasury had said it would give money only to healthy banks, to jump-start lending. But OneUnited had seen most of its capital evaporate. Moreover, it was under attack from its regulators for allegations of poor lending practices and executive-pay abuses, including owning a Porsche for its executives' use.

Companies start competing for bailout money

This is absolutely a joke.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The bailout is now the hottest lobbying game in town.

Insurers, automakers and American subsidiaries of foreign banks all want the Treasury Department to cut them a piece of the largest government rescue in U.S. history.

The betting is that many with their hands out will be successful, especially with financial markets in a stomach-churning dive and predictions the economy is about to tumble into a deep recession.

What did I say then?

Reign of the 'chaos-maker' | FT

"When everything goes smoothly is the time when things go wrong." - Yun Jong-yong, the CEO of Samsung Electronics

Yun Jong-yong (pictured), may not be as well known as Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Michael Dell or Carly Fiorina but any list of the most powerful people in the information technology industry would be incomplete without the chief executive of Samsung Electronics.

Mr Yun, an unimposing and gently spoken 59-year-old, is the man credited with transforming part of South Korea's biggest company from a struggling producer of cheap electronics into one of the world's best-performing and most respected IT companies.
......
Mr Yun explains how Samsung had avoided the slump and sets out his plans to continue its success. "The last two years were not possible just because of two years' effort. We are finally enjoying the fruits from several years' hard work," he says, slumped in a comfortable chair in Samsung's headquarters in central Seoul.
.......
"I'm the chaos-maker," says Mr Yun. "I have tried to encourage a sense of crisis to drive change. We instilled in management a sense that we could go bankrupt any day."
.......
Mr Yun's job is to keep on making "chaos" so that Samsung does not slip into complacency. "We must not lose the sense of crisis that helped us change," he says. "When everything goes smoothly is the time when things go wrong."

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