The Exploding Federal Deficit - by Donald Marron - has explanation of components

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J.P. Morgan to Send Warrants to Market - By DEBORAH SOLOMON and ROBIN SIDEL - Several Wall Street firms seeking to buy back warrants held by the government as part of the $700 billion financial bailout are complaining that the Treasury Department is demanding too high a price, according to people familiar with the matter. …  J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive James Dimon raised the issue directly with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, disagreeing with some of the valuation methods that the government was using to value the warrants. … - Wall Street Journal

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Treasury sold warrants below market value: panel - he U.S. Treasury Department allowed 11 smaller banks to repurchase stock warrants at only 66 percent of their market value, passing up about $10 million of taxpayer profits from government bailouts, a U.S. watchdog panel said on Friday. - Wall Street Journal
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No audit for FED? - Fed official warns against government audits - Federal Reserve deputy chairman Donald Kohn on Thursday defended the US central bank’s independence, saying congressional oversight could interfere with monetary policymaking.  If the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, were authorized to audit the Fed, that “could cast a chill on monetary policy deliberations,” Kohn told a House of Representatives committee. - Reuters

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Ron Paul: Audit the Federal Reserve: HR 1207 and S 604 - Ron Paul’s bill to audit the Federal Reserve (HR 1207) now has 254 co-sponsors, and the numbers keep growing! HR 1207’s companion bill in the Senate, S 604, has already attracted 6 co-sponsors- RonPaul.com

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The Fed Under Increasing Fire - A must watch introductory clip by the American News Project which summarizes well the current push to unmask the inner workings of the Federal Reserve, the urgency of increasing transparency and the groundbreaking nature of Ron Paul’s HR 1207 bill. - Zero Hedge

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Fed Chair Bernanke to Hold Town Hall on Economy - Posted by: Jane Sasseen - We are a long way from the days of Alan Greenspan’s finely-tuned obfuscations. … he had a legendary ability to take a straightforward question and answer in a way that none but the most sophisticated market watcher could understand — and even they often had trouble.  But no more. Since taking over as chairman of the Fed, Ben Bernanke has championed a more plain-speaking, transparent approach…. — that Bernanke will participate in a town hall meeting in St. Louis in late July. - BusinessWeek

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The Dicey Politics of a Second Stimulus - Posted by Brian Montopoli - Since President Obama signed the $787 billion stimulus package in February, more than two million jobs have been lost and unemployment has hit its highest rate in a quarter century, 9.5 percent.  For Republicans, who have been seeking a message that will help the party regain some momentum, that’s the sort of bad news that comes with a silver lining. Members of the GOP have been harshly attacking the opposition party as wasteful spenders whose expensive programs have had little positive impact. - CBS News Blogs

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FHFA Five-Year Plan – No Changes! - Bruce Krasting -  The FHFA released its five-year plan today. There are no surprises in this report. There are no innovative plans to change the troubled mortgage giants FNM and FRE. The five-year plan by FHFA calls for them to do what they have been doing for the past year as FHFA and for the past decade as OFHEO. Not much in the way of supervision or control. Just business as usual.  … I did like the cover and all the other pictures of the happy home owners. .. 

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Barney Frank wants to steal our TARP repayments for deadbeats and ACORN - Examiner.com

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A Second Stimulus Package? Yikes! - Alan Reynolds  - India, Japan and the U.S. repeatedly deliver unaffordable and ineffective spending proposals - Forbes

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Obama Administration To Buoy S.B.A. With T.A.R.P. Money? - By ROBB MANDELBAUM - The Obama Administration is considering diverting some of the $700 billion in bank bailout money to the Small Business Administration’s 7(a) loan program, according to a report published Friday evening by the Washington Post … . It is unclear, for instance, how much money is at stake — the Post reports “billions.” That would dwarf the S.B.A.’s entire budget, let alone the money that covers borrower losses. … - NY Times

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TARP mission creep watch, SBA edition - Posted by: Felix Salmon - Reuters

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Freddie Buys in its Sub Debt – Heinous! - Bruce Krasting Blog  -  After the bell on Friday (ahem) Freddie Mac announced that it would buy in $4.4 billion of its Sub Debt. This deal is another coup for our pals at Goldman Sachs who got the Lead Manager slot on the deal. … (another example of contract law being sidestepped - has details) 

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Geithner: Move Derivatives on to Exchanges - Ken Sweet - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Friday said over-the-counter derivative contracts must be tracked by regulatory authorities and be traded on an exchange similar to the New York Stock Exchange or the Chicago Board Options Exchange - FOXBusiness