Bailouts | featured news

Insurance giant reveals it paid more than $75B in taxpayer dollars in the final months of 2008 to numerous banks, as well as U.S. municipalities.

The Obama administration sought to reduce the bonuses, but the insurer, which received more than $170 billion in aid, said it was obligated to pay them.

US carmaker General Motors says it will not need the $2bn it had previously requested for March from the government.

Freddie Mac, facing mounting damage from the U.S. housing crisis, said Wednesday it will ask the government for nearly $31 billion in additional aid after posting a gargantuan loss of more than $50 billion last year.

General Motors Corp.'s auditors have raised "substantial doubt" about the troubled automaker's ability to continue operations, and the company said it may have to seek bankruptcy protection if it can't execute a huge restructuring plan.

Bernanke accuses company of exploiting gaps in the system, says government 'had no choice' on bailout.

U.S. stock markets plunged by 4 percent to close at the lowest levels in nearly 12 years, igniting fresh concern over the depth of the financial crisis and where the bear market would find a bottom.

The federal government agreed Monday to provide an additional $30 billion in taxpayer money to the insurer, even as it reported the biggest quarterly loss in history.

American International Group Inc's board approved the latest overhaul of a U.S. government rescue on Sunday that includes $30 billion in new equity and other measures aimed at bolstering the struggling insurer, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The president's chief of staff criticized U.S. car companies Sunday for relying too long and gas guzzlers and not investing enough in alternative energy vehicles.