Department Of The Treasury U S

Escalating a foreign policy spat with Canada, the Clinton administration said Friday that the Treasury Department is considering sanctions against the giant Wal-Mart retail chain because its Canadian stores are selling $9 pajamas made in Cuba. State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said that a 3-decade-old U.S. law prohibits foreign subsidiaries of U.S. corporations from engaging in financial transactions with Fidel Castro's government. "We have a law that we have to fulfill," Burns said.

The Treasury Department's long-awaited attempt to deal with toxic mortgage securities cleared another hurdle as two of the nine fund managers selected to lead public-private partnerships to purchase the assets raised at least $500 million each. Invesco Ltd. and Los Angeles-based TCW Group Inc. have completed their initial fundraising from private investors, bringing in a total of $1.13 billion in capital commitments as part of the Public-Private Investment Program, the Treasury said Wednesday.

On a quiet cul-de-sac overlooking the Pacific where personal paradises sell for millions, homeowners are digesting an unsettling lesson: Fat wallets make for strange bedfellows. And moneyed neighborhoods don't get much stranger than Malibu's tree-lined Zumirez Drive. On the upside, sunsets and city lights sparkle across the water on summer evenings. Homeowners can ride golf carts down to their private beach.

An inspector general's audit has found no wrongdoing in the U.S. Treasury Department's $400-million investment of bailout funds in Los Angeles-based City National Bank, according to people familiar with the report. The audit, which is expected to be made public as soon as today, was launched late last year by Treasury Department Inspector General Eric Thorson amid concerns over how and why banks were chosen to receive bailout money. Its focus was whether Treasury officials properly followed the rules established in October when the controversial $250-billion banking bailout was announced as the largest component of the $700-billion federal Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The numerous errors on Timothy F. Geithner's income tax returns had tax accountants debating Wednesday whether the missteps were innocent, cheating or simply the result of the overly complicated tax code. Geithner's political fate -- he is President-elect Barack Obama's choice as Treasury secretary, putting him in charge of the IRS -- lies in balance. But it's not an easy call. Tax experts said that the issues that tripped up Geithner were complex enough to befuddle many taxpayers.

The Treasury Department has quietly reopened an internal investigation to determine whether U.S. Customs Service officials were pressured five years ago into prematurely ending an undercover operation to break up a plot to sell $70 million in arms abandoned in Vietnam, officials said. Sources in Washington said the new probe was launched because officials believe an inquiry in 1993 into the abrupt end of the weapons investigation, code-named Operation Leatherneck, was not complete.

The U.S. government, without the knowledge of many banks and their customers, has engaged for years in a secret effort to track terrorist financing by accessing a vast database of confidential information on transfers of money between banks worldwide. The program, run by the Treasury Department, is considered a potent weapon in the war on terrorism because of its ability to clandestinely monitor financial transactions and map terrorist webs.

The U.S. Treasury will rename its Series EE savings bonds sold through banks and over the Internet as Patriot Bonds to help raise money for the war on terrorism. The program will start in mid-December. "The funds raised by the bonds, while not earmarked for a specific purpose, will contribute to the federal government's overall effort to fight the war on global terrorism," the Treasury said in a news release. The bonds will be inscribed with the legend "Patriot Bond."

Though he was a prodigy in the world of economics, Timothy F. Geithner underwent an IRS audit in 2006 and ended up paying back taxes for a mistake in two years' worth of filings. That was embarrassing enough. But just as he was about to be named to head the Treasury Department, a more awkward fact came to light: Geithner had made the same error in two earlier tax years and failed to fix it even after the audit.

OK, so Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea didn't get the job done. Now the U.S. Mint is rolling out the big guns: George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. But even the founding fathers may not be able to handle this challenge. In 1979, unhappy over the speed with which $1 bills wore out and the cost of replacing them, the Treasury Department issued a dollar coin featuring Anthony, the women's rights crusader. But the public wasn't buying -- or, rather, using.

The U.S. Treasury Department granted preliminary approval Thursday for some of the nation's largest insurance companies to receive capital infusions under the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, Treasury spokesman Andrew Williams said. Recipients are Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., Prudential Financial Inc., Allstate Corp., Ameriprise Financial Inc., Lincoln National Corp. and Principal Financial Group Inc., he said.

The Treasury Department may release as early as next week its long-awaited ruling on how to limit pay for executives at firms bailed out by the federal government, two sources familiar with the deliberations said. Justice Department lawyers are currently reviewing the proposed limits. Executive compensation is a delicate political issue for the Obama administration.

This week, Washington gets another chance to prove to Wall Street it means business. Investors are expecting details on the Treasury Department's plans to fix the financial industry. The questions they want answered: How the government will decide which banks are healthy enough to be saved, how their toxic assets will be priced and how officials will persuade private investors to buy them. The Obama administration has yet to galvanize confidence on Wall Street.

The numerous errors on Timothy F. Geithner's income tax returns had tax accountants debating Wednesday whether the missteps were innocent, cheating or simply the result of the overly complicated tax code. Geithner's political fate -- he is President-elect Barack Obama's choice as Treasury secretary, putting him in charge of the IRS -- lies in balance. But it's not an easy call. Tax experts said that the issues that tripped up Geithner were complex enough to befuddle many taxpayers.

Though he was a prodigy in the world of economics, Timothy F. Geithner underwent an IRS audit in 2006 and ended up paying back taxes for a mistake in two years' worth of filings. That was embarrassing enough. But just as he was about to be named to head the Treasury Department, a more awkward fact came to light: Geithner had made the same error in two earlier tax years and failed to fix it even after the audit.

In this hard-hit corner of the nation's mortgage meltdown and credit crisis, it's hard to find anybody who sees evidence that the Treasury Department's $700-billion rescue plan is working after two months.

The Treasury Department auctioned $19 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 5.025%, up from 5.01% last week. An additional $15 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at 4.965%, up from 4.955% last week. The three-month rate was the highest since Jan. 22, 2001, when it averaged 5.09%. The six-month rate was the highest since Jan. 29 of this year, when it was 4.98%. The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value.

Some attended the government auction for business. Some went to make personal purchases. And others were there for the rush--if they could follow the fast-talking auctioneer. "Thirty-three hundred? 33?" asked the auctioneer standing atop a platform in front of a large warehouse. "Willyougive 34? Willyougive, willyougive, willyougive?"

In an extraordinary response to the escalating financial crisis, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson said Friday that the government would buy direct stakes in banks and other financial institutions for the first time since the Great Depression. Paulson had initially dismissed the idea of taking equity stakes in crippled banks, and his change of heart may reflect a growing conviction that the severity of the credit crisis warrants a more direct approach.

Unveiling its plan to rescue the nation's financial system from near-paralysis, the Bush administration is asking Congress for the authority to spend $700 billion and for powers to intervene in the economy so sweeping that they have virtually no precedent in U.S. history.