Banks, Bailouts | featured news

Wall Street bankers, with their $18 billion in bonuses, private jets and gaudy conferences, are causing headaches for the GOP.

President Obama has proposed capping compensation for executives at banks that take taxpayer bailout money at $500,000. Republicans hate the idea, which puts them uncomfortably on the side of people currently about as popular as child-porn producers and subprime mortgage brokers.

Lawmakers and consumer groups skewered the San Francisco bank, which got a $25-billion infusion from the government, after they heard about the event to fete top mortgage salespeople.

Cries for post-bailout accountability resounded at the biggest banks Tuesday as Citigroup Inc. issued a 43-page defense of its lending, a consumer group lashed Bank of America Corp. for throwing a $10-million Super Bowl bash, and Wells Fargo & Co.

Banks collecting billions of dollars in federal bailout money sought government permission to bring thousands of foreign workers to the U.S. for high-paying jobs, according to an Associated Press review of visa applications.

At least 50 banks have rejected funds from the Treasury over concerns that tougher restrictions may be imposed.

At banks that are receiving federal bailout money nearly nine out of every 10 of the most senior executives from 2006 are still on the job, according to an Associated Press analysis of  documents.

President Barack Obama's top economic adviser would not rule out on Sunday that more money may be needed to stabilize the financial system as a deep recession increases banks' losses.

HONG KONG — Asian stocks rebounded today from the previous day's rout, with Tokyo's index gaining nearly 3 percent, as the U.S. bailed out Bank of America again and a weaker yen lifted exporters like Toyota Motor Corp.

Escalating credit losses drove Bank of America Corp. to report a fourth-quarter loss and slash its quarterly dividend to a penny on Friday, hours after receiving a multibillion-dollar lifeline from the federal government.