If you thought Black's truthtelling with Bill Moyers was incendiary, read his latest interview in Barrons. Just like his interview on Moyers, it's about as easy to excerpt as, say, an artillery barrage (and quite a contrast to spread-the-blame-around weak tea like this.) Herewith:

The Lessons of the Savings-and-Loan Crisis
So you aren't a fan of the recently announced plan for the government to back private purchases of the toxic assets?

[BILL BLACK]... The current law mandates prompt corrective action, which means speedy resolution of insolvencies. [Geithner] is flouting the law, in naked violation, in order to pursue the kind of favoritism that the law was designed to prevent. He has introduced the concept of capital insurance, essentially turning the U.S. taxpayer into the sucker who is going to pay for everything. He chose this path because he knew Congress would never authorize a bailout based on crony capitalism.

Geithner is mistaken when he talks about making deeply unpopular moves. Such stiff resolve to put the major banks in receivership would be appreciated in every state but Connecticut and New York. His use of language like "legacy assets" -- and channeling the worst aspects of Milton Friedman -- is positively Orwellian. ...

His plan essentially perpetuates zombie banks by mispricing toxic assets that were mispriced to the borrower and mispriced by the lender, and which only served the unfaithful lending agent [See here on agency issues].

We already know from the real costs -- through the cleanups of IndyMac, Bear Stearns, and Lehman -- that the losses will be roughly 50 to 80 cents on the dollar. The last thing we need is a further drain on our resources and subsidies by promoting this toxic-asset market. By promoting this notion of too-big-to-fail, we are allowing a pernicious influence to remain in Washington. The truth has a resonance to it. The folks know they are being lied to.

I keep asking myself, what would we do in other avenues of life? What if every time we had a plane crash we said: 'It might be divisive to investigate. We want to be forward-looking.' Nobody would fly. It would be a disaster. ...

Summarize the problem as best you can for Barron's readers.