TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

'In The Belly Of The Recession'

ADVERTISEMENT

The Associated Press

Published: November 4, 2008

WASHINGTON - The government, raising cash to pay for the array of financial rescue packages, said Monday it plans to borrow $550 billion this quarter - and that's just a down payment.
Treasury Department officials also projected the government would need to borrow $368 billion more in the first three months of 2009, meaning the next president will confront an ocean of red ink.

The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Budget estimates that all the government economic and rescue initiatives, starting with the $168 billion in stimulus checks issued earlier this year, total even more - an eye-popping $2.6 trillion.

"We are now deep in the belly of the recession beast," said Bernard Baumohl, managing director of the Economic Outlook Group.

Meanwhile, the Bush administration is moving to get parts of the rescue package up and running. Two New York law firms - Hughes, Hubbard & Reed and Squire Sanders & Dempsey - were announced to process the mountains of paperwork that banks will be required to file. That will allow the government to monitor the operation of the $250 billion program to buy bank stock. The administration is also still working to develop other programs that will be covered by the $700 billion rescue fund, including considering how a proposal to guarantee mortgages held by people facing foreclosures might look.

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT