::sigh:: I'm ready to make a prediction: before the end of 2009 Obama will nationalize at least the top 20 banks.
I've come to the conclusion that there is no other choice - well there is, but they all suck. I'll give you my quickie constituent-based analysis. Here are The Players: * The bankers. These are the guys that run the banks and made the bad bets. * The bank investors. These are the guys that gave the banks money to bet. * The depositors. These are the savers. 90% of all their money is in the top 20 banks. * The tax payers. You know these people. Here are the options: (1.) Bail out the bankers. This is theTARP. This is where the government buys up the bad loans for more than "mark-to-market". If a house was purchased for $10, but is worth $5 at market, then the government pays, say, $8 and now the taxpayers own the house. The bankers keep their jobs, the investors maybe a little, the depositors are safe, and the tax payers get majorly hosed for decades. (2.) Let the banks fail. Normally Americans have been in debt at about 30%-50% of what they make. Right now it's 100%. The only other time it's been that high is The Great Depression. Twin peaks: then and now. If the banks fail, that Depression will no longer seem so bad. In this option all constituents lose. Big. (3.) Nationalize. This is the time honored method to clean up bad banks. The government puts enough capital back into the bank to keep it going and then spins it off to investors to recover its capital. In this scenario the bankers and bank investors lose big. The bankers lose their jobs and the investors lose their capital. The depositors are safe and the tax payers stand to get some of their money back, but will probably still lose something. As a tax payer, for me it's a no-brainer that we need to nationalize. So why haven't we? (a.) Staff. It would probably take at least 100,000 NEW government staff to take over the top 20. (b.) Plan. You'd have to do it all at once, which means you'd need one monster plan, which means you'd need some time and one monster staff to make the plan, and right now the Republicans won't give Geithner the staff. Result? Stalling. O is stalling for time and giving the zombies enough capital to limp along until we get that plan built. And then one - probably summer - night ... BAM! Nationalization. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:291458 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
