Below The Beltway

Two of the East Coast’s largest banking institutions are lining for the federal bailout.
First, there’s Suntrust:
SunTrust Banks, metro Atlanta’s largest bank by deposits, said Monday that it would sell $3.5 billion in preferred stock to the U.S. government in an effort to weather the current economic storm and enable the bank to explore new lending [...]

The vultures have already started claiming their piece of the $ 700 bailout package:
WASHINGTON (AP) - The bailout is now the hottest lobbying game in town.
Insurers, automakers and American subsidiaries of foreign banks all want the Treasury Department to cut them a piece of the largest government rescue in U.S. history.
The betting is that many [...]

If you missed Meet The Press yesterday, you missed the opportunity to hear the Republican candidate for President condemn his opponent as a “socialist” and then, moments later, endorse one of the most important tenants of socialism.
First let’s see what he had to say about Barack Obama:
MR. BROKAW: Well, let me ask you about [...]

He may have once been Ayn Rand’s favorite economist, but yesterday Alan Greenspan shed whatever free-market credentials he may have had left:
Alan Greenspan, once viewed as the infallible architect of U.S. prosperity, was called on the carpet yesterday, pilloried by a congressional committee for decisions that contributed to the financial crisis devastating world markets.
The former [...]

It started overseas last night:
TOKYO, Oct. 24 — A recession-driven wave of selling swept across Asian and European markets on Friday amid tumbling corporate profits and a poor growth report from the U.K., while major oil exporting countries agreed to slash output in another concession to the sluggish global economy.
Markets in Asia were off anywhere [...]

The Washington Post reports that the Federal Government is considering guaranteeing troubled mortgages in an effort to persuade banks to halt foreclosures:
The U.S. government may start guaranteeing the mortgages of some homeowners who are heading for default, in hopes of persuading lenders to renegotiate the terms of troubled loans and avoid more foreclosures, Federal Deposit [...]

The consequences of the credit crunch are starting to hit home, and Wall Street isn’t liking what it hears:
The malaise on Wall Street simply will not lift.
Despite cheaper oil and looser credit, stock investors on Wednesday could not shake their fears about the consequences of an economy that many believe is already in a recession. [...]

Some surprisingly cogent wisdom from the Editoral Page of The Washington Post:
IS THIS the end of American capitalism? As financial panic spread across the globe and governments scrambled to contain the damage, reality seemed to announce the doom of U.S.-style free markets and President Bush’s ideology. But this is wrong in two ways. The deregulation [...]

Today’s Washington Post sets forth in stark detail the difficult job the next President will have starting on Day One:
If Sen. Barack Obama wakes up as the president-elect on Nov. 5, he will immediately assume responsibility for fixing a shredded economy while the Bush administration is still in office. If Sen. John McCain wins the [...]

Ron Paul continues his attack on the Bush-Paulson-Bernanke Bailout:

H/T: Liberty Maven