Interesting facts for the week. Or at least someone thinks so.

By The Number$

1.        JUST HELPING CLOSE THE DEAL - The Federal Reserve assisted a major Wall Street firm in its 3/16/08 purchase of Bear Stearns by providing up to $29 billion in loans (i.e., a backstop) in the event that the buyer suffered losses on subprime assets acquired in the transaction (source: BusinessWeek).    

2.        HOUSING RELIEF - President George Bush signed a housing bill on 7/30/08 that will insure up to $300 billion in mortgages.  The bill allows up to 400,000 homeowners to refinance their existing mortgages into new 30-year fixed rate mortgages backed by the government.  A qualifying homeowner has to be spending more than 31% of his/her monthly income on the mortgage payment and be currently living in the house (source: USA Today).      

3.        MORE INCENTIVES - The 7/30/08 housing bill had $15 billion in tax cuts, including a first-time home buyer tax credit of up to $7,500 for home purchases between 4/09/08 and 7/01/09.  The bill also contained $4 billion for cities to buy and renovate foreclosed properties in hard-hit neighborhoods (source: AP, Denver Post).      

4.        FANNIE AND FREDDIE - Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson announced a plan on 9/07/08 where the government took control of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  The Treasury Department acquired $1 billion of preferred stock in each company, warrants for 80% of their common stock and pledged up to $200 billion of financial support as a result of potential mortgage defaults (source: Wall Street Journal).     

5.        TARP - The $700 billion “Troubled Assets Relief Program” (TARP) was signed into law by President Bush on 10/03/08.  The $700 billion was divided between $250 billion to be allocated by the Treasury Department into bank purchases, another $100 billion to be directed by President George Bush (as needed) and $350 billion to be allocated by our next president (i.e., Barack Obama) in 2009 and beyond (source: Congress, Lincoln Journal Star).    

6.        SWEETENERS - In order to win Congressional support of the TARP bill, $150 billion of tax incentives were added to the legislation, including changes to the Alternative Minimum Tax law (source: Wall Street Journal).    

7.        BUYING BANKS - Half of the $250 billion TARP money designated for bank purchases went into 9 banks.  This $125 billion bought non-voting preferred bank shares with a 5% dividend.  The Treasury also acquired $18.75 billion in warrants (15% of the $125 billion) to buy common stock of the banks (source: BTN Research).      

8.        MORE BANK PURCHASES - The other $125 billion allocated for bank purchases will be used to take equity positions in smaller US banks, i.e., not the original 9 big banks (source: Financial Times).    

9.        BUYER OF LAST RESORT - The Fed announced on 10/07/08 (“Commercial Paper Funding Facility”) that it will buy short-term commercial paper through 4/30/09.  Eligible issuers of the short-term debt have $1.3 trillion of outstanding commercial paper (source: Federal Reserve).    

10.     GOVERNMENT-BACKED CORPORATE BONDS - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced on 10/14/08 the “Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program.”  The plan allows banks and other firms that have been approved to participate and issue up to $1.4 trillion in government-guaranteed bonds with maturities of more than 30 days.  The bonds must be issued by 6/30/09.  The guarantee lasts no longer than 6/30/12 (source: FDIC).    

11.     FED HELP - The Fed announced on 10/21/08 that they would lend $540 billion to corporations, a plan (“Money Market Investor Funding Facility”) designed to unclog the commercial paper market (source: WSJ, Barron’s).    

12.     STRUGGLING INSURER - The original bailout of the nation’s largest insurance company (worked out on 9/16/08) involved an $85 billion loan and warrants that would give the government an 80% ownership in the firm.  On 10/08/08, a $38 billion loan was added to the agreement.  That deal was reworked on 11/10/08 to a $60 billion loan, a $40 billion purchase of the insurance company’s preferred stock (using some of the $700 billion TARP money), and $52.5 billion to buy other mortgage-backed assets of the firm (source: WSJ, AP, Denver Post).     

13.     BUYING TROUBLED ASSETS - The Fed announced on 11/25/08 a program (“Government Sponsored Entities Purchase Program”) to buy $600 billion of mortgage-backed securities and debt from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae and the Federal Home Loan Banks (source: Investment News).    

14.     CONSUMER CREDIT MARKET - The Fed launched on 11/25/08 a new program (“Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility”) to lend up to $200 billion to private investors who would in turn buy securitized assets that are backed by auto loans, credit card loans, student loans or small business loans (source: USA Today).        

15.     RUNNING ON EMPTY - The 3 largest auto makers in the USA delivered their request to Congress for $34 billion of loans and lines of credit on 12/02/08 (source: USA Today).