Corporate Governance

The White House named a new stimulus overseer on Friday — Kathleen Tighe, the inspector general for the Education Department.

Vice President Biden announced that Tighe will take over as head of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board (RATB), which keeps tabs on how money from the 2009 economic stimulus is spent.

She is replacing Earl Devaney, who is set to retire at the end of the month after 41 years of work in the federal government. 

Biden said he is "confident" that Tighe will "continue to hold the board to the high standards set by Earl as the recovery act’s top watchdog.”

For-profit college leaders criticized a congressional investigation looking into compensation of their chief executives. 

Brian Moran, interim chief executive officer and president of the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities (APSCU), called the investigation by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, "just more politics" that doesn't acknowledge the role of the private sector schools. 

“This appears to be just more politics and unfortunately fails to acknowledge the important role private sector colleges and universities have in educating non-traditional students to compete for jobs in a very difficult economic environment," Moran said in a statement sent to The Hill. 

A White House push to secure support looks to be well short of the 60 Senate votes needed. 

A divided Commodity Futures Trading Commission voted along party lines Tuesday to impose new restrictions on speculative trading in energy futures markets.

The rules, required under last year’s Dodd-Frank law, are aimed at reigning in speculative Wall Street trading that some allege has driven up oil prices and worsened market volatility in recent years.

The rules impose “position limits” on the amount of futures and swaps contracts for oil and other commodities that traders hold.

“While I'd have an even tougher rule in many respects if I were the only author, this is nonetheless a very strong, needed and imperative rule to ensure more efficient and effective markets devoid of fraud, abuse and importantly, manipulation,” Bart Chilton, a Democratic member of the five-person CFTC who has been the body’s most outspoken advocate of imposing the rules, said in a statement.

Regulators ushered in one of the fiercest lobbying fights over the Wall Street reform law.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.): President Obama still wrong on how to create jobs.

Market participants begin to guess what Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will say in his Friday speech.

Multinational companies that want a corporate tax holiday to create jobs are reluctant to detail just where they're hiring.

There is a disconnect between the broad pessimism in financial markets and the lingering optimism from analysts of individual companies.

The housing sector, which continues to weigh on the economic recovery, could be getting heavier.

Asian stock markets ended down in the first day of trading after debt talks fell apart ...

... and U.S. stock futures are down before trading kicks off for the week.

Policymakers and investors are steeling for what could be a rocky market stretch thanks to the debt-limit drama.

The maker of BlackBerry smartphones is laying off 2,000 people to cut costs.

Charitable giving by corporations was up in 2010.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has blasted the Treasury for taking a $1.3 billion loss on its exit from the bailout of Chrysler.

On Thursday, the Treasury announced that Italian auto maker Fiat, which is in the process of merging with Chrysler, had completed the $560 million purchase of the government's outstanding take in the domestic car company.

In turn, Issa criticized the administration for not recouping all of its $12.5 billion rescue investment in Chrysler — especially since the deal was made with a foreign company.

The Treasury Department said the government has sold off its remaining shares in the auto company.

The Federal Reserve had more than $1 trillion in loans out to a wide range of financial institutions during the financial crisis, according to a new audit of the central bank.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its top-to-bottom audit of the Fed Thursday, opening the central bank to fresh criticism from the lawmaker that had pushed for the audit in the first place.

The GAO was directed to conduct the audit by a provision in the Dodd-Frank financial reform law pushed by liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

He was quick to blast the Fed for its far-reaching activity during the peak of the financial crisis.

"As a result of this audit, we now know that the Federal Reserve provided more than $16 trillion in total financial assistance to some of the largest financial institutions and corporations in the United States and throughout the world," he said. "This is a clear case of socialism for the rich and rugged, you're-on-your-own individualism for everyone else."