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Egypt and the IMF: Overview and Issues for Congress

Description: This report provides an overview of the economic situation in post-revolution Egypt and negotiations between Egypt and the IMF. It also analyzes why an IMF program is controversial in Egypt and the relationship between an IMF program for Egypt and U.S. foreign policy goals in the region. It discusses the IMF program from a congressional perspective, including how debt relief for Egypt has been tied to an IMF program and legislation that would condition U.S. bilateral economic assistance to Egyp… more
Date: April 29, 2013
Creator: Nelson, Rebecca M. & Sharp, Jeremy M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Causes of the Financial Crisis

Description: This report sets out in tabular form a number of the factors that have been identified as causes of the financial crisis that began in 2007. The left column of Table 1 summarizes the causal role of each such factor. The next column presents a brief rejoinder to that argument. The right-hand column contains a reference for further reading. Where text is given in quotation marks, the reference in the right column is the source, unless otherwise specified.
Date: January 29, 2009
Creator: Jickling, Mark
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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IMF Reforms: Issues for Congress

Description: This report provides information about the reforms made by the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in December 2010, Congress's role in the reform process, and how the reforms could affect U.S. interests at the IMF.
Date: March 11, 2014
Creator: Nelson, Rebecca M. & Weiss, Martin A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Payment Card Interchange Fees: An Economic Assessment

Description: This report focuses on the Visa and MasterCard card associations, which account for three-fourths of the payment card market in the United States in 2008. The report begins with a discussion of the nontraditional structure of the payment card market. The next section is an analysis of the problem of the optimum level of payment cards to achieve the highest social welfare benefit for cardholders and merchants. The third section discusses the provisions of the Credit Card Fair Free Act of 2008. T… more
Date: September 3, 2008
Creator: Eubanks, Walter W.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Key Issues in Derivatives Reform

Description: This report provides background related to financial derivatives. It also analyzes market structure and regulation, derivatives reform, legislative proposals and exemptions for end users, safeguards for uncleared over-the-counter (OTC) swaps, and hypothetical examples.
Date: April 8, 2010
Creator: Miller, Rena S.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Social Security: The Trust Funds

Description: This report covers how the Social Security program is financed and how the Social Security trust funds work. It will be updated annually to reflect current projections of the financial status of the Social Security trust funds.
Date: September 12, 2017
Creator: Morton, William R. & Liou, Wayne
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Social Security: What Would Happen if the Trust Funds Ran Out?

Description: This report explains what the Social Security trust funds are and how they work. It describes the historical operations of the trust funds and the Social Security trustees' projections of future operations. It explains what could happen if Congress allowed the trust funds to run out. It also analyzes two scenarios that assume Congress waits until the moment of insolvency to act, showing the magnitude of benefit cuts or tax increases needed and how such changes would affect beneficiaries.
Date: September 12, 2017
Creator: Morton, William R. & Liou, Wayne
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Small Business Lending Fund

Description: This report discusses on the Small Business Lending Fund (SBLF). It begins with a discussion of the supply and demand for small business loans. The SBLF's advocates argued that the fund was an important part of a larger effort to enhance the supply of small business loans. After describing the program's structure, the report then examines other arguments that were presented both for and against the program's enactment. Advocates claimed the SBLF would increase lending to small businesses and, i… more
Date: October 27, 2017
Creator: Dilger, Robert Jay
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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FATCA Reporting on U.S. Accounts: Recent Legal Developments

Description: This report discusses the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FACTA) intended to curb tax evasion through the use of offshore accounts and its requirement to for foreign banks to report information on their U.S. citizen account holders to the IRS. It starts with an overview of the foreign financial instituition (FFI) reporting requirements and examines the role of the intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) in implementing them. The report then discusses the confidentiality protections provided to … more
Date: September 7, 2016
Creator: Lunder, Erika K. & Pettit, Carol A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Loan Limits for Government-Backed Mortgages

Description: This report contains brief program descriptions for each of the government-backed housing loan programs and discusses the maximum guarantee amounts for each. The government or quasi-government entities that insure or guarantee mortgages and are discussed in this report are the following: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), The Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Housing Service (RHS).
Date: April 27, 2017
Creator: Weiss, N. Eric; Jones, Katie; Perl, Libby & Cowan, Tadlock
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Export-Import Bank: Background and Legislative Issues

Description: This report discusses the Export-Import Bank (Ex-In Bank), the chief U.S. government agency that helps finance American exports of manufactured goods and services with the objective of contributing to the employment of U.S. workers.
Date: June 18, 2002
Creator: Jackson, James K.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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"Regulatory Relief" for Banking: Selected Legislation in the 114th Congress

Description: This report discusses regulatory relief legislation for banks in the 114th Congress that has seen floor action or has been ordered to be reported by a committee. Many, but not all, of the bills would make changes to the Dodd-Frank Act (P.L. 111-203), a wide-ranging financial reform enacted in response to the financial crisis.
Date: January 19, 2016
Creator: Hoskins, Sean M.; Gnanarajah, Raj; Labonte, Marc; Murphy, Edward V. & Shorter, Gary
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Social Security Reform: How Much of a Role Could Personal Retirement Accounts Play?

Description: This report illustrates the potential accumulations of personal savings accounts intended for retirement savings, given a range of possible contribution amounts and interest rates. It is intended to provide information about how to evaluate the possible role of personal accounts in the debate on Social Security reform.
Date: June 9, 2000
Creator: Koitz, David S.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Campaign Finance Bills in the 107th Congress: Comparison of S. 27 (McCain-Feingold), H.R. 2356 (Shays-Meehan), H.R. 2360 (Ney-Wynn), and Current Law

Description: This report summarizes and compares three major campaign finance reform bills before the 107th Congress and current law (in most cases, the Federal Election Campaign Act, or FECA, 2 U.S.C. § 431 et seq.).
Date: July 5, 2001
Creator: Cantor, Joseph E. & Whitaker, L. Paige
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Electronic Banking: The Check Truncation Issue

Description: This report discusses legislative issues regarding check truncation, which occurs when the check is stopped before it reaches the paying bank and the check clearing process is completed electronically. The United States banking system processes approximately 42.5 billion checks annually, but only a fraction of these checks is processed electronically by check truncation.
Date: November 8, 2003
Creator: Eubanks, Walter W.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Small Business: Access to Capital and Job Creation

Description: This report addresses a core issue facing Congress during the 112th Congress: what, if any, additional action should the federal government take to enhance small business access to capital? After briefly discussing the role of small business in job creation and retention, this report provides an assessment of the supply and demand for small business loans. It also examines selected laws enacted during the 110th and 111th Congresses that were designed to enhance small business access to capital … more
Date: January 13, 2011
Creator: Dilger, Robert J. & Gonzales, Oscar R.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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