“Only five days into the Obama presidency, members of the new administration and Democratic leaders in Congress are already dancing around one of the most politically delicate questions about the financial bailout: Is the president prepared to nationalize a huge swath of the nation’s banking system? …So far, President Obama’s top aides have steered clear of the word entirely, and they are still actively discussing other alternatives, including creating a ‘bad bank’ that would nationalize the worst nonperforming loans by taking them off the hands of financial institutions without actually taking ownership of the banks. Others talk of de facto nationalization, in which the government owns a sizeable chunk of the banks but not a majority, with all that connotes.” (New York Times, Monday)
Let’s hope this is a collective nightmare.
FEE Timely Classic
“How Safe Is Your Bank?” by Hans F. Sennholz
