US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was to unveil a plan yesterday to beef up the Federal Reserve in the latest US bid to calm economic turmoil stirred up by the "subprime" lending crisis.
The federal government was to propose giving sweeping new oversight powers to the Fed, including tighter surveillance of financial markets in a bid to avoid calamities like the current US mortgage chaos.
US financial regulatory agencies have been accused by experts of failing to recognize rampant excesses in mortgage lending until after they set off what is now seen as the worst US financial crisis in decades.
"With very few exceptions, most of this blueprint should not and will not be implemented until after the present market difficulties are past," Paulson said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
"But we've got a chance of getting people to look at it more broadly now. In that way, I think the timing is great," he said in its online edition.
Paulson scheduled a press conference for 3pm GMT yesterday at the Treasury Department where he was expected to unveil the restructuring plan.
A summary obtained over the weekend by US media indicated the Fed would gain the power to investigate any activities of financial institutions that threaten US economic stability, gather information and combat risks to the financial system as a whole.
The proposal is the most ambitious overhaul of the regulatory agencies since the mid-19th century, when the system was gradually put into place after the US civil war, the Journal reported.
The Securities and Exchange Commission would lose some of its authority and is likely to be combined with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that regulates trade in gas, oil and other goods, the New York Times said.
The report came as new statistics showed US consumer spending stalled in February despite rising incomes as Americans boosted savings amid recession fears.
The subprime crisis appears to have claimed another victim yesterday as the Journal reported that US Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson was poised to announce his resignation.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the newspaper said the departure would deal a blow to efforts by the administration of US President George W. Bush to tackle the housing and mortgage crisis.
On Wednesday, Paulson called on the Fed to broaden its surveillance of financial institutions, just days after it authorized investment banks -- including Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers -- to use emergency measures and borrow at the discount rate normally reserved for commercial banks.
Also see: Optimism falters in US
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
RSS