#1 Proposed solution from the cited article:
"Some $6 trillion in income taxes were paid by individuals in 2006, 2007 and 2008. On a pro-forma basis, send out those 10 billion shares of each [newly nationalized] bank to taxpayers. They paid for the recapitalization.
Each taxpayer would get about $100 worth of stock for each $1,000 of taxes paid. Of course, each taxpayer has the ability to sell these shares on the open market, maybe at $40, maybe $20, maybe $80. It depends on management, their vision, how much additional capital they are willing to raise, the dividend they declare, etc. Meanwhile, the toxic assets sitting inside the Treasury will have residual value and the proceeds from their eventual sale, I believe, will more than offset the capital injected. That would benefit all citizens, not the managements and shareholders who blew up the banking system in the first place"
This solution looks like Communism with more paperwork, from the Wall Street Journal, yet. The articles I read keep giving me the impression that all major US banks are insolvent & have been shuckin' and jivin' for months in their efforts to not face the music. The really small banks that are still solvent don't amount to a hill of beans. |