Posted on 10/06/2008 5:09:01 PM PDT by markomalley
Thanks, but no thanks -- that's likely to be Democrats' answer to one of their biggest benefactors.
Billionaire speculator and left-wing political contributor George Soros has parachuted into the debate over the financial crisis by floating his own rescue plan. Democratic Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia held a meeting Wednesday with Robert Johnson, who once managed Mr. Soros's hedge fund, to discuss his proposal to recapitalize the American banking system by purchasing equity in banks and investment firms with taxpayer dollars. The Hill newspaper also reports that Mr. Soros has been in touch with the Obama campaign.
Mr. Soros certainly isn't hiding his idea. He published its outline in a Financial Times op-ed and is circulating a concept paper fleshing out the idea. But Democrats may wish to be wary. A longtime financier of the Democratic Party, Mr. Soros is a lightning rod for criticism from conservative radio talk-show hosts. There are also serious policy objections to the Soros plan that could lead Democrats into being accused of promoting socialism. Robert Shapiro, a former Commerce Department undersecretary during the Clinton administration, said government ownership of stock in troubled firms would mix profit-making with policy goals in an unhealthy way.
"How does the government vote the shares?" he asks. "It puts them in a potential conflict of interest. Regulatory interests may hurt the bottom line."
Where’s my Lysol?
Dracula to head Red Cross
Al Franken may be senator.
Why not? He owns ALL the Democrats and some of the Republicans. Who would stop it?
won’t he be busy in the department of re-education?
Here’s a fix ... government recapitalizes the banks with taxpayer dollars. Gets shares in return.
Distribute the shares to the taxpayers in proportion to the taxes they paid averaged over the last two or three years. (Subject to some minimum, as it does not make economic sense to have less than 100 shares.)
This way, the share owners — individual taxpayers — can vote the shares and the government can get about its regulatory business without conflict.
Or, if individual shares are too complicated, put all these shares into a few newly created mutual funds and distribute ownership to the taxpayers in proportion to the taxes paid.
Might be necessary to put a minimum holding time on the shares, to prevent them from being dumped all at once.
Not hard to come up with a solution to these problems, once you break out of thinking the government owns everything.
Jack
If our country elects Obama, it will be the worst of circumstances. If our country elects Obama who hates middle America, who consorts with terrorists and denies that world terrorism is a problem, who disrespects our military and accuses them of war crimes, who promotes socialism out of in the daylight, who promotes abortion and infanticide, who promotes homosexuality and the redefinition of marriage, just to name a few objections, why wouldn't America and the Senate go along with George Soros being confirmed? What is the difference between the two? If you love Obama, you gotta love Soros. They both hate America and seek to reconstruct it into some liberal nirvana.
Soros, proof that the good die young. ;-)
Citigroup’s Bob Rubin, if he wants it.
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