Bailout

Irish voters would be playing a dangerous game with their country's economic future if they reject the European Union fiscal treaty in a referendum this month, Finance Minister Michael Noonan warned Wednesday. Noonan told a Dublin conference that the Irish government expects to win the May 31 vote but will campaign hard, mindful of past voter rejections of EU treaties in 2001 and 2008. Ireland is the only signatory to the 25-nation treaty requiring it to be ratified by a national vote.

Foreign officials have begun regular checks of whether Portugal is complying with the terms of a (EURO)78 billion bailout that demanded steep spending cuts and economic reforms. The quarterly appraisal comes amid mounting pressure in Portugal and other eurozone countries for more measures to foster growth. Austerity measures including pay cuts and tax hikes are widely blamed for Portugal's third recession in four years and a record unemployment rate of 15.3 percent. Portugal has so far drawn praise for its diligent implementation of the bailout agreement it signed a year...

If hypocrisy had a face, a look, a certain familiar strut, it would be that of old favorite Curt Schilling as he pushed his way through a swirling collection of reporters and photographers in Providence this week with absolutely nothing of consequence to say. Curt Schilling, mute, the one time he actually owed an explanation. Perfect. But that's a minor point, really. There's a larger hypocrisy in his failing video game venture, the one that Rhode Island state officials giddily backed to the tune of $75 million in loan guarantees, which seems to be a fancy financial term for...

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann has warned Europe's central banks not to increase their exposure to Greece because of the high level of political uncertainty there ahead of next month's elections. In an interview with German Sunday newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung he said that "Greek people and their elected lawmakers" will have to decide if they want to abandon the euro currency. Pending those political decisions, central banks "must ensure that the risk on our balance sheets remains manageable," Weidmann was quoted as saying.

WROCLAW, Poland - The European Union's 27 countries overcame a year of infighting to agree yesterday to tougher budget rules that make it easier to punish overspending governments, but failed to produce any new measures that might contain the debt market turmoil threatening it. Jacek Rostowski, the Polish finance minister, said his EU counterparts approved the measures at their meeting in Wroclaw, Poland, where the officials were under international pressure...

WASHINGTON - President Obama plunges into a difficult test of his leadership this week, struggling to get a divided Congress to agree on his economic recovery package while pitching a new plan to ease loans to consumers and businesses. The Senate's $827 billion stimulus legislation seems assured narrow passage by tomorrow. Harder work for Obama and the Democrats comes in the days ahead, when the House and Senate attempt to reconcile differences in their two versions. Obama and Democratic Party leaders had hoped to have...

GRAND BLANC, Mich. - Even after a crucial deadline came and went, the financing arm of General Motors Corp. remained silent yesterday on whether it cleared a final hurdle to become a bank holding company and gain access to billions in federal bailout money. Analysts have speculated that if GMAC Financial Services LLC doesn't obtain financial help it would have to file for bankruptcy protection or shut down, which would be a serious blow to parent GM's own chances for survival.

DUBLIN — Ireland’s international bailout boosted its bank stocks yesterday but outraged many hard-pressed taxpayers, who questioned why the government’s pension reserves must be ravaged as part of a deal that burdens the whole country with the mistakes of a rich elite. Shares in Ireland’s banks rose sharply as markets were encouraged by the bailout’s immediate focus on injecting about $13 billion into the cash-strapped lenders out of a total of $89 billion in loans. But the Irish were shocked by a key condition for the rescue — that the government...

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Everyone seems to want one, but apparently a lot of Americans aren't sure what exactly a "bailout" is. The word, which shot to prominence amid the financial meltdown, was looked up so often at Merriam-Webster's online dictionary site that the publisher says "bailout" was an easy choice for its 2008 Word of the Year. The rest of the list is not exactly cheerful. It also includes "trepidation," "precipice" and "turmoil. " "There's something about the national psyche right now that is looking up words that seem to suggest fear and...

Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders says he will file a lawsuit to block the Netherlands from ratifying the permanent European bailout fund. Wilders, leader of the Netherlands' third-largest political party, forced the collapse of the all-conservative government last month by walking out of austerity talks he said would hurt the economy to satisfy European budgetary rules. The Netherlands is in a mild recession. After Wilders' walkout, new national elections have been scheduled for September.

ATHENS - The threat of a full economic collapse in Greece escalated Tuesday after warring political factions failed to forge a new government, triggering fresh elections and heightening chances that this rudderless Mediterranean nation could be forced to abandon the euro. The political chaos was raising the stakes across Europe, with a showdown now looming between Greece and eurozone leaders led by Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, who have demanded tough belt-tightening from Athens in return for its massive international bailout.

A senior judge has been sworn in to head Greece's caretaker government for a month as the debt-crippled country lurches through a political crisis that threatens its membership in the 17-nation eurozone. The political uncertainty is worrying Greece's international creditors as well as Greeks themselves, who have withdrawn hundreds of millions of euros from banks since the May 6 election. Council of State head Panagiotis Pikramenos, 67, was appointed Wednesday to head a government that will lack the mandate to make any binding commitments until a new election, which is expected June...

The head of Greece's Council of State will take the reins of the country until it holds new elections on June 17, state TV said a meeting of party leaders decided Wednesday, a day after power-sharing talks collapsed. Nine days of negotiations among Greece's bickering parties failed after May 6 inconclusive elections left no party with enough votes for a majority in parliament. The lack of a deal to share power meant the only option open was to head back to the ballot box. The caretaker government will have no mandate to take...

Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders says he will file a lawsuit to block the Netherlands from ratifying the permanent European bailout fund. Wilders, leader of the Netherlands' third-largest political party, forced the collapse of the all-conservative government last month by walking out of austerity talks he said would hurt the economy to satisfy European budgetary rules. The Netherlands is in a mild recession. After Wilders' walkout, new national elections have been scheduled for September.

Irish voters would be playing a dangerous game with their country's economic future if they reject the European Union fiscal treaty in a referendum this month, Finance Minister Michael Noonan warned Wednesday. Noonan told a Dublin conference that the Irish government expects to win the May 31 vote but will campaign hard, mindful of past voter rejections of EU treaties in 2001 and 2008. Ireland is the only signatory to the 25-nation treaty requiring it to be ratified by a national vote.

DETROIT - The United States government is hoping that Monday's bankruptcy filing by Ally Financial Inc.'s troubled mortgage business will help the company repay its government bailout faster. Residential Capital LLC, or ResCap, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York, unable to make payments on debt taken out to finance soured home mortgages. The filing will separate the money-losing ResCap subsidiary from Ally's auto loan and banking businesses, allowing the latter businesses to grow and speed up repayment of Ally's bailout from 2008 and...

ATHENS — The financial markets pushed Greece closer to an expensive bailout after the European Union raised its estimate of the country’s budget deficit and Greece’s credit rating was downgraded. The moves caused the indebted nation’s borrowing costs to spike to apparently unsustainable levels. Greece’s government has said it prefers to tap the bond markets and avoid using a joint eurozone-International Monetary Fund rescue package, details of which are being hammered out. But with investors demanding punishingly high interest rates — over 8.7 percent for 10-year bonds — the...

NEW YORK - The banks trying to form a bailout of troubled structured investment vehicles yesterday said the fund is unnecessary at this time, amid speculation that investors were reluctant to participate. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. , and Citigroup Inc. - at the behest of the Treasury Department - have been working since September to set up the fund. Money raised would have been used to buy assets from the SIVs, that have been hurt during the credit crisis.

THE CALL: With Spain's borrowing costs rising and stock prices falling at alarming rates, its foreign minister issued an urgent appeal Monday to battling political parties in Athens to form a government quickly. THE ROAD BLOCKS: Investors fear that because Greeks voted heavily in favor of parties that want to cancel or renegotiate Athens' international bailout, the country may be forced into default. THE STAKES: "The best thing Greece can do for its own survival and for the survival of European economic and monetary union" is to say it's going to comply with the terms of its...

ATHENS, Greece — Critical talks to form a governing coalition in crisis-struck Greece foundered once more, leading the country one step closer to new elections — and bringing its continued presence in the euro into serious doubt. Last-ditch efforts by President Karolos Papoulias to broker a deal between wrangling party leaders ended with no deal in sight late Sunday, a week after national elections produced a deadlock, with no party winning enough seats to form a government.