Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) spoke with the Wall Street Journal about the bill Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.) plans to introduce Monday to overhaul financial market regulation. Messrs. Corker and Dodd tried to strike a bipartisan compromise on the package until Mr. Dodd abruptly said last week they likely wouldn’t be able to introduce a joint bill because of time constraints. WSJ: What’s happened in the last 48... 

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.) spoke with the Wall Street Journal on Sunday about the bill he plans to introduce Monday to rewrite financial market regulations. Mr. Dodd said the bill had been “well vetted, well thought out, and thoroughly explored. I’m not interested in setting up a regulatory structure that strangles anyone.” But he also vowed to push forward aggressively. “The idea we can somehow delay... 

House prices across the globe still have room to fall, but the U.S. may be in better shape than other developed nations, according to an International Monetary Fund research article . In the article, Prakash Loungani notes that house prices in major economies declined an average of about 5% in inflation-adjusted terms from 2007 through 2009. But he looks at some key metrics to determine if the global correction has ended. One measure is how... 

The Obama administration is considering a Maryland regulator awarded “Consumer Advocate of the Year” and a Massachusetts economics professor known for his Social Security expertise to join Janet Yellen as nominees to the Federal Reserve Board. Yellen, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, is on the administration’s short list to replace Federal Reserve Board Vice Chairman Donald Kohn, White House spokesman …  Read More →

Former Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Alan Blinder said Friday he fears Congress will fail to act to revamp the financial regulatory system, calling it a “tragedy.” “An astounding fact to me is we are still here in March 2010 and we’ve done nothing in the way of financial reform,” Blinder said in a speech at the Futures Industry Association. “I’m not very optimistic about getting good financial reform, which... 

A roundup of economic news from around the Web. Toxic Asset: NPR’s Planet Money purchased a toxic asset, and now we can all watch it die. “Our toxic asset has 2,000 mortgages, many of them in hard-hit states like California, Arizona and Florida. A lot of the people in our bond are really struggling. Almost half are behind on their mortgage payments, and 15 percent of the homes are already in foreclosure. At some point those homes... 

Janet Yellen , president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco , is expected to be nominated by President Barack Obama as vice chair of the Federal Reserve Board . Ms. Yellen, 63 years old, has served as a Fed policy maker for almost a decade between her stints in Washington and San Francisco. Dan Francisco Fed President Janet Yellen (Reuters) Policy stance: Ms. Yellen has been a reliable supporter of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke ’s... 

Calling government budget deficits unsustainable, a top Federal Reserve official on Thursday called on national leaders to start laying out plans that would allow a move back to more manageable spending levels. New York Fed President William Dudley (Reuters) “Just as there needs to be a credible exit strategy for monetary policy to anchor inflation expectations, there also needs to be a credible exit strategy from fiscal policy stimulus... 

The Federal Reserve ’s latest flow of funds report offers a clue for those trying to understand why banks often don’t want to lend to businesses: By some measures, businesses’ finances are still deteriorating. In the fourth quarter of 2009, nonfinancial corporate businesses’ net worth — what they have minus what they owe — declined 1.9%, notching its ninth straight quarter of contraction. The main driver of the drop is companies’... 

Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) said he was very disappointed talks have broken off with Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.) and blamed health care and White House politics for the problem. “I think Republicans want to see a good financial reform bill. I think Democrats want to see a financial reform bill. If we cannot do this in a bipartisan way, and I still have hope that we will, we can’t do anything anymore in... 

Greeks are bracing for a long and deep recession ahead as it begins to dawn on them that the cost of fixing the country’s public finances will entail years of economic hardship and high unemployment. In recent public opinion polls, but also in the media, the business community, and even in ordinary dinner conversation, the feeling is that it will take several years for the Greece to emerge from its economic crisis…  Read More →

See the full interactive graphic. Thirty states and the District of Columbia recorded unemployment rate increases in January from a month earlier, while states registered rate decreases, the Labor Department said. But in a sign the job market is inching toward recovery 31 states added jobs in the first month of the year. In January, the overall U.S. unemployment rate fell to 9.7% from 10% a month earlier, while the nation’s economy shed 26,000... 

A roundup of economic news from around the Web. Fed Seats: Mark Thoma asks why so many Fed seats are unfilled. ” For whatever reason, the administration has not taken full advantage of its chance to shape monetary policy during the downturn. The number of open positions is a large fraction of the Federal Reserve Board, and it skews the balance of power on the Federal Open Market Committee (where monetary policy is decided) toward the regional... 

Young people are worried about losing their jobs and paying their bills, but they’re still holding out hope that conditions will improve. Some 60% of 18- to 29-year-olds said they were worried about paying their bills and meeting other obligations in this economy as fear of job loss still looms large, a new poll by Harvard’s Institute of Politics shows. Nearly half, 46%, said they’re concerned about…  Read More →

The Federal Reserve pumped more than $1 trillion dollars into the economy at a lightning pace, but it plans to take it out glacially, a senior Fed official said in a speech Monday. Brian Sack, who runs the markets group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, laid out more detail on the Fed’s plans to reduce its massive holdings of mortgage backed securities and Treasurys in a speech to the National Association of…  Read More →