Posted on 03/22/2009 8:55:57 PM PDT by Southack
WASHINGTON — Obama administration officials worked Sunday to persuade reluctant private investors to buy as much as $1 trillion in troubled mortgages and related assets from banks, with government help.
...
But some executives at private equity firms and hedge funds, who were briefed on the plan Sunday afternoon, are anxious about the recent uproar over millions of dollars in bonus payments made to executives of the American International Group.
Some of them have told administration officials that they would participate only if the government guaranteed that it would not set compensation limits on the firms...
...“What we’re talking about now are private firms that are kind of doing us a favor, right, coming into this market to help us buy these toxic assets off banks’ balance sheets,” Christina D. Romer, the White House’s chief economist...
In phone conversations, the administration gave some of these prospective investors a preview of the program, the people briefed on the conversations said.
Three chiefs of investment firms said in interviews that they were impressed with the terms of the program — which would have the government lend nearly 95 percent of the money for any investment — but remained reluctant to participate because of the potential for future regulation.
“The deal is good, but it’s not worth it if I’m buying myself into a retroactive tax or a Congressional hearing” ...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Making them an offer they can’t refuse?
If you do business with this government YOU ARE A COMPLETE FOOL.
Not much of a secret if it’s already in the Times.
Good luck with that after the false messiah and his DEM congress have bad mouthed CAPITALISM for two months and now incited the people to come out with their pitch forks over a measly $165 M in legal bonuses (not that I think these bonuses are deserved). Did anyone read about the bus tour in CT up to some of the AIG Execs houses? Disgusting how the DEMS incite class warfare any chance they get. In this case it wasn’t up to chance - DEMS CREATED THIS MESS. I go absolutely berserk when I hear them screaming about “It wasn’t our administration that wrote these bonus contract”, implying it was BUSH. AIG was a private company and the Feds have no business regulating compensation in private enterprises. When the Feds decided to throw billions at AIG, THAT was the time to break these contracts, not come out later and tell the 6pm news watcher crowd they need to get on a bus and go up and see the size of houses the AIG execs live in.
“Come into my den” said the spider to the fly.
The List, ping
I only read the excerpt, but as I read I flashed on the deal Reagan made with Glendale Bank to buy a distressed bank in Florida, but then Clinton came along and changed the rules compelling Glendale to have to sell to none other than Clinton’s buddies at Citi.
Perhaps somebody might remember this deal better than myself, but my point is that if I were a private investor, I’d say “Thanks, but no thanks”, especially to the crowd that is “governing” at this time.
NO LIBERAL CAN BE TRUSTED PERIOD.
What private investors with any pedigree would buy toxic assets willingly with very little hope for any return?
If it smells like a duck, walks like a duck, talks like a duck, must be a duck....something’s not right here...
Oh wait, I forgot we’re talking about this administration so since it’s bizarro world now it’s a perfect plan...what was I thinking?
Ha. Um, if those assets were bad enough to kill off those investors in the first place, why would they buy them back?
Glad to see not all money men are idiots. Whoever said this, I'd bet he is Not from the Ivy League.
Concur. Those fsck'ers will redefine "trust" in order to justify stabbing a "friend" in the back.
The Gov’t track record on these things guarantees a hosing at the hands of many of the same people who participated in creating the mess in the first place.
I wouldn't be a bit surprised. Rahm has probably already mailed them long dead fishes, with a little note :
"Hey, that's a real nice bank balance you got there."
"Be a shame if something happened to it."
"You know, I hear that your neighbor that worked for AIG got hit with a 90% tax on top of his normal taxes."
"Gee, I hope that doesn't happen to you."
You don't know the names of the investors; hence...it's still a secret.
QED.
None. The secret is buried just a little bit deeper. There is a return, on the taxpayer's back.
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