Imark
Forumer storico
Non avranno bisogno di altri fondi pubblici, ma è sempre meglio tenere da parte un po' di argent de poche, non si sa mai... 
UPDATE 2-Obama budget keeps $250 bln placeholder for banks
Thu May 7, 2009 1:39pm EDT
(Adds Orszag comments, background)
By Caren Bohan
WASHINGTON, May 7 (Reuters) - The detailed version of President Barack Obama's budget unveiled on Thursday maintains a $250 billion "placeholder" for additional financial rescue efforts should that money be needed, U.S. officials said.
But White House budget director Peter Orszag said the administration hoped it would not need to request the extra bailout funds.
"We are retaining that placeholder, even though, again, that placeholder was out of an abundance of caution and it's very likely -- or it's our hope that -- it will not be necessary to call upon it," Orszag told reporters on a conference call after Obama released a more specific version of the budget document he outlined in February.
If the administration were to officially request the $250 billion, it could finance $750 billion in fresh government aid to the battered U.S. banks, on top of the $700 billion approved by Congress last year.
"Nothing has changed with regards to the Financial Stabilization Plan," said Ken Baer, press secretary for the White House Office of Management and Budget. "It is there just in case that money may be needed."
Baer emphasized that no decision has been made about whether or when to formally request money from Congress for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, also known as TARP.
When it included a reference to the TARP placeholder in the budget document released in February, the administration said that was done in the interests of budget transparency but no decision had been made about whether the money was needed.
The bank bailout program is unpopular in the U.S. Congress. The Democratic-led Congress has approved the general outlines of Obama's $3.5 trillion budget blueprint but did not include the bailout funds in the nonbinding measure it approved.
Financial authorities plan to release the results of government "stress tests" on major banks at 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT) on Thursday.
The results will look at the ability of the 19 largest U.S. banks to weather a deep recession. They are expected to show about half the banks need more capital.
Treasury officials have said they have no intentions of returning to Congress in the near term to seek more federal bailout funds because they believe they can fund rescue efforts with existing resources and money returned to the government by healthy banks.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in an opinion piece in the New York Times on Thursday that he expects banks will be able to repay more than the $25 billion of government rescue funds that he had previously estimated.
(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason)
(Reporting by Caren Bohan; Editing by Will Dunham and Cynthia Osterman)
UPDATE 2-Obama budget keeps $250 bln placeholder for banks
Thu May 7, 2009 1:39pm EDT
(Adds Orszag comments, background)
By Caren Bohan
WASHINGTON, May 7 (Reuters) - The detailed version of President Barack Obama's budget unveiled on Thursday maintains a $250 billion "placeholder" for additional financial rescue efforts should that money be needed, U.S. officials said.
But White House budget director Peter Orszag said the administration hoped it would not need to request the extra bailout funds.
"We are retaining that placeholder, even though, again, that placeholder was out of an abundance of caution and it's very likely -- or it's our hope that -- it will not be necessary to call upon it," Orszag told reporters on a conference call after Obama released a more specific version of the budget document he outlined in February.
If the administration were to officially request the $250 billion, it could finance $750 billion in fresh government aid to the battered U.S. banks, on top of the $700 billion approved by Congress last year.
"Nothing has changed with regards to the Financial Stabilization Plan," said Ken Baer, press secretary for the White House Office of Management and Budget. "It is there just in case that money may be needed."
Baer emphasized that no decision has been made about whether or when to formally request money from Congress for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, also known as TARP.
When it included a reference to the TARP placeholder in the budget document released in February, the administration said that was done in the interests of budget transparency but no decision had been made about whether the money was needed.
The bank bailout program is unpopular in the U.S. Congress. The Democratic-led Congress has approved the general outlines of Obama's $3.5 trillion budget blueprint but did not include the bailout funds in the nonbinding measure it approved.
Financial authorities plan to release the results of government "stress tests" on major banks at 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT) on Thursday.
The results will look at the ability of the 19 largest U.S. banks to weather a deep recession. They are expected to show about half the banks need more capital.
Treasury officials have said they have no intentions of returning to Congress in the near term to seek more federal bailout funds because they believe they can fund rescue efforts with existing resources and money returned to the government by healthy banks.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in an opinion piece in the New York Times on Thursday that he expects banks will be able to repay more than the $25 billion of government rescue funds that he had previously estimated.
(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason)
(Reporting by Caren Bohan; Editing by Will Dunham and Cynthia Osterman)
