Bailout in economics and finance is a term used to describe a situation where a bankrupt or nearly bankrupt entity, such as a corporation or a bank, is given a fresh injection of liquidity, in order to meet its short term obligations. Often bailouts are by governments, or by consortia of investors who demand control over the entity as the price for injecting funds.
Treasury: $33.6 billion to 21 banks
The second distribution under the $700 billion bailout brings the total dispersed to publicly-traded banks to $158.56 billion.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Treasury Department said Monday that it has dispersed $33.56 billion to 21 banks in a second round of payments as part of the $700 billion bailout program designed to boost the nation's banking system.
The new distribution brings the total to $158.56 billion so far. The government previously distributed $125 billion to nine banks in the form of stock purchase programs.
In this second round, Minneapolis, Minn.-based U.S. Bancorp (USB, Fortune 500) received the largest amount of $6.6 billion. Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks (STI, Fortune 500) received $3.5 billion, as did Birmingham, Ala.-based Regions Financial Corp (RF, Fortune 500). Capital One Financial Corp. (COF, Fortune 500) based in McLean, Va., received $3.56 billion. The smallest amount of $9 million went to Los Angeles-based Broadway Financial Corp.
The first round included $25 billion injections to Wells Fargo (WFC, Fortune 500), JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), and Citigroup (C, Fortune 500). Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) was granted $15 billion, while Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500), Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) and Merrill Lynch (MER, Fortune 500) were given $10 billion each.
Bank bailout scorecard
Separately, Treasury said the deadline for some 3,600 private banks to apply for a share of the $700 billion bailout is Dec. 8. Private banks had been unable to apply for funds previously because the program involved stock purchases.
As long as a bank has submitted an application with federal regulators to become a bank holding company or a savings and loan bank by the December deadline, the institution is eligible for money from the bailout program.
Roughly 2,500 so-called S-corporation banks in the U.S. can't offer preferred stock so they were locked out under the original terms but will now be eligible to apply for capital as part of the government's bailout program.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said last week that the government's rescue plan for the banking system would no longer involve purchasing toxic mortgage debt from banks, and would instead focus on providing banks with capital by buying stock directly in the public banks.
And in a Senate hearing last week, key lawmakers pressed bank executives on how they have been using government funding, saying that the banks ought to do more to directly help struggling homeowners. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said that banks are not using the government funds to ease credit for struggling home owners.
The House Financial Services Committee is holding a hearing regarding oversight of the $700 billion plan on Tuesday. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair are among the speakers.(Link)
Origin of Caduceus:
What is interesting about the Caduceus is that its bearer is usually associated with Mercury/Hermes. The word "merchant" derives from the root word, "mer-cury". To be a Merchant and purchase Merchandise you must be the bearer of Mercury. As this merchandise was commonly herbs, spices and drugs.Today the dollar sign is likely the caduceus, though often said to evolve from the Mexican or Spanish P for pesos, or piastres or pieces of 8.
And like single and dual snakes climbing the staff of Asclepius and the Caduceus, the dollar sign is represented with both single and dual vertical lines. The sign is attested in business correspondence between British North America and Mexico in the 1770s, as referring to the Spanish-Mexican peso. The piastre was known as "Spanish dollar" in British North America and it was adopted as U.S. currency in 1785, together with the term "dollar" and the $ sign.
The sign's ultimate origins are not certain although it is widely accepted that it comes from the Spanish coat of arms, which carries the two Pillars of Hercules and the motto Plus Ultra in the shape of an "S". Link
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