Wed, 01/21/2009 - 3:58pm — lambert
Aux duck pits, citoyens!. Of course, he's really only joking.
First, we'd claw back the money they stole.
Then we'd shoot them.
NOTE Via (Susie (AlphaVille)).
NOTE I still can't get an answer to my question: Why don't we just turn the banks into regulated public utilities? For the things that most Americans really need -- shelter, transport -- why shouldn't access to credit be just like access to electric power or gas? The bill come in the mail, you pay it. Otherwise, after due process, you get cut off. Where's the need for all the guys on the golf course?
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I knew that someone was going to say this
I just didn't think that it would be the FT
Overseas banks have already been placed under government control
Royal Bank of Scotland was taken over in October of 2008, and the UK government now holds 70% of shares. The same thing has happened with many other banks.
We should do the same here, but it is a bit more complicated because of - wait for it - the few remaining regulatory restrictions. In other countries the banks were forced to mark down their paper to market value, driving down stock prices which allowed the government to buy shares at fair value and hopefully make a profit when stability returns and stock prices rebound.
Here in the US, if banks revalued their paper at market value our system would require that many of the banks be declared insolvent. That triggers a whole series of complicated and possibly uncontrollable events that could - emphasis could - make things worse rather than better.
Were this my decision, I'd nationalize the banks, the auto industry, and in addition all of our fossil fuel in-ground reserves as a matter of national defense. The best, fastest, and in the end fairest way to fix the system is to break it. Not politically doable at the moment, but a steadily worsening economy may yet make it the only possible route.
How do you feel about Barack Obama having that sort of power and control?
Just watched NewsHour
and the three people on the panel said temporary nationalization of some banks must occur. They all stressed that the "burying of heads in the sand" approach recently undertaken obviously didn't solve anything, and the crisis only worsened. They felt that broad measures will be enacted, and it will happen very soon, despite those in the "very powerful" financial industry who have lobbied Congress for restraint.
If nationalization meant public ownership
instead of being a device to socialize the losses, I'd be happier.
Why, again I ask, why not turn the banks into regulated public utilities? The average person would be well served if the mortage and the car payments were handled in the same dull, dull, dull way that the gas bill and the electric bill are handled. The bill comes. You write a check. How hard can this be? Sure, a bunch of executives and con artists -- sorry for the redundancy -- are going to be looking for honest work, but that's bad why?
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
Sorry to be off topic, but where is the PayPall Button?
I've tried different browsers and no button. Look I'll send some change to feed the cats, but how 'bout the hamsters?
Again, sorry to be off topic.
James Galbraith on banks as public utilities
Part I: Banks should be nationalized and run like public utilities (starting around 7:10):
And Part II, where Galbraith talks about the danger in “entitlement reform.”