It’s been a momentous two weeks of business news, leading to the Federal Bail-Out bill being signed into law yesterday, October 3, 2008. How many of the following news quiz questions can you answer correctly?

1. How much is provided for in the Federal Bail-out bill?
a. $7 billion
b. $70 billion
c. $700 billion
d. $7 trillion

2. What department of government will have primary responsibility for administering the bailout?
a. Treasury
b. Interior
c. Federal Reserve
d. Homeland Security

3. What did the stock market (i.e., Dow Jones index) do the day that the bailout bill was signed into law?
a. Up 778 points
b. Down 778 points
c. Up 157 points
d. Down 157 points

4. What unfavorable economic news was reported the same day as the bail-out bill was signed into law?
a. Record U.S. trade deficit
b. Oil prices back up to $120/bbl
c. Very unfavorable jobs report
d. U.S. economy officially in recession

5. Which financial institution was not offered a Federal bail-out in time to avert its bankruptcy?
a. Freddie Mac
b. Fannie Mae
c. Lehman Brothers
d. AIG

6. Which politician made a speech in March of this year “tracing the sub-prime crisis to lax oversight, and calling for a major overhaul of regulatory policy?”
a. George W. Bush
b. Barack Obama
c. John McCain
d. Michael Bloomberg

7. What led General Electric to sell $3 billion of convertible, 10% preferred stock to Warren Buffet?

8. What accounting provision, in conjunction with the sub-prime crisis, has led to weaker bank balance sheets?
a. Accounts receivable aging
b. Accelerated depreciation
c. Pooling of interest
d. Mark to Market

9. Which perk was not rolled into the bail-out bill that Congress eventually approved?
a. Extended mortgage forgiveness for homeowners
b. New/extended tax credits to promote reduced energy
c. Increased tax credits for real estate developers
d. Middle-class protection from alternative minimum tax

10. For each of the acquired, or to-be-acquired banks (a, b, c, d), match it to an acquiror, choosing from 1, 2, 3, or 4. (This one is tricky!)

a. Merrill Lynch
b. Washington Mutual
c. Countrywide Financial
d. Wachovia

1. Citigroup
2. Wells Fargo
3. Bank of America
4. J. P. Morgan Chase

Congratulations to Drew Keeling, of Kusnacht, Switzerland, for being the first to get back to me with correct answers to all 10 questions:

1. c
2. a
3. d
4. c
5. c
6. b
7. to strengthen its balance sheet
8. d
9. c
10. 2d, 3a, 3c, 4b