The 19 financial institutions in the USA that underwent the Treasury Department's "stress test" received their results in private last Friday.  These major banks, holders of half of the outstanding loans in the nation, will be asked to maintain a higher level of capital reserves as a result of the examinations performed over the last 2 months.  The tests created simulations to determine if the banks could survive a 2-year economic slump that included a national unemployment rate above 10% and an additional drop in home prices of 25%.  The government will release the test results to the public a week from today (source: AP).  
 
President Barack Obama took on the country's credit card companies last week when he met with 14 industry executives on Thursday at the White House.  Obama has promised to push for legislation to reform the practices of this business.  Americans paid an astounding $52 million a day in late fees to credit card companies in calendar year 2008 (source: USA Today).   
 
The Fed's 3rd of 8 scheduled meetings this year begins tomorrow.  Wednesday marks the 100th day of President Obama's administration.  The president has gotten out of Washington frequently since his January inauguration, visiting 11 US states in the last 3 months, including trips to California, Arizona and Florida, 3 of the states hit hardest with real estate foreclosures during our nation's economic crisis (source: White House).

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