The Only Road Out of Crisis: Yes, it is socialism, but nationalize the banks already

from In These Times:



The Only Road Out of Crisis
Yes, it is socialism, but nationalize the banks already.

By Joseph M. Schwartz


Since taking office, President Barack Obama and his economic team have confronted a daunting financial crisis with a string of solutions that have been hard to sell to a wary public.

Obama’s first problem is that his administration’s bank rescue has failed to break with the discredited Bush administration plan—throwing taxpayer funds at insolvent banks to put off their inevitable nationalization by the Federal Deposit Insurance Company (FDIC).

On March 23, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner proposed the latest rescue for big banks, whose “legacy assets” of housing-based financial derivatives have tanked in value. Geithner’s Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP) tries to revive the market for these toxic assets by having the government insure their value.

Some major financial institutions, such as Bank of America and Citigroup, are what Princeton economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman calls “zombie banks.” They live as private entities only because of the endless infusion of government funds that swamp their private stock market equity value. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4419/the_only_road_out_of_crisis

The last one being just a few days ago.

http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html

:dem:

-Laelth