Posted on 03/25/2009 9:01:49 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
We need to share the bill for bail-outs
By John Gapper
Published: March 25 2009 21:16 | Last updated: March 25 2009 21:16
One thing we have learnt in the past year is that some banks are definitely too big to fail. We may yet discover something even more disturbing: that some are too big to save.
Tim Geithner, the US Treasury secretary, who has staged something of a reputational recovery this week – helped by the fickle stock market – will this morning testify to Congress on his plans for reforming regulation and gaining more power to wind up insolvent financial institutions.
Mr Geithner has intelligent things to say about how the Treasury and the Federal Reserve could have done a better job of letting Lehman Brothers go down gracefully, and saving American International Group without having to stick to bonus contracts. He wants the US government to be able to seize control of such institutions when spending public money.
The fact that it could not – that it had to lend $85bn to AIG to keep it afloat last September rather than take over the insurance group, and was unable to deal properly with Lehman Brothers – is one reason why he has been in trouble with Congress.
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
Ping!
ben was appointed by a republican president,
but it didn’t take him long to become a leftwing, fascist democrat.
Dude, Jenny made her way.
'Nuff said. I'm 100% in agreement.
Geithner and Obama take orders from Wall Street criminals who ruined the economy. When this debacle is all over I know everybody will want true justice.
It’s not that arcane or involved. It’s rich guys helping other rich guys avoid responsibility for thier follies, and get richer to boot. T’was ever thus.
That point is lost on the masses. It’s partisan politics as usual. Only two parties have been in charge for the last 60 years, and they both worked damn hard to get us in this hole. As long it’s always just “the other sides’s fault”, they’ll keep eating our lunch.
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