Geithner's gift to Wall Street

As the first TALF-backed deals for Ford, Honda and Harley's debt hit the market, professional investors see an opportunity to make a killing.

May 18, 2009: 10:39 AM ET

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Imagine if you were not really in the market for a house but the government came along and said that it would finance 94% of a home's purchase price with a mortgage rate of less than 3%. Still not interested? Wait, Uncle Sam has some additional sweeteners: if you do the deal and buy the house for only 6% down, you also get the equivalent of rental income every month to the tune of at least an annualized yield of 10% of the purchase price.

But wait there's still more: if, say, after two years, you decide you don't want the house any longer, you can just walk away from it. No need to pay the balance of the mortgage (it won't affect your credit rating), and you can keep the rental income received to date.

That's essentially the deal that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has offered qualified professional investors who participate in the so-called TALF (Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility). Two months into the program as the first TALF- backed deals hit the market, you can see why the likes of hedge fund Fortress Investment Group are drooling over it. "I'm a big believer in the impact that TALF can and should have," Fortress CEO Wes Edens said on a May 6 investor call, adding that he expects that Fortress will be "a big participant" in the TALF program "three to six months from now."

More: http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/18/news/economy/geithner-talf.fortune/index.htm?cnn=yes

None of the banks would have needed bailing out.

Typical trickle down bullcrap is still infested in the current WH thinking.

Non-recourse loans means if the property goes up in value, the corporation gets the profit, and if the property goes down in value, the taxpayers absorb the losses.

And God forbid you become seriously ill and incur high medical costs. Or just lose your job and not be able to make the payments on your car or your house or your credit cards. This is not government by the people.

they should print money and hand out hunks of it to universities and individuals in garages with good ideas. Let the enterprising folks in our society have the money to start businesses with. Forget about the businesses that have failed us.