| Econ Stabilization Act needs Rescue
The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 enacted October 3 with its $700 billion of help for financial institutions with illiquid asset problems is not strong enough medicine to heal America's financial Industries. America has two key needs for these industries. First, rebuild the security markets for these illiquid mortgage related securities which if done will dramatically help all financial institutions and the overall economy. Second, recapitalize U.S. banks so they have enough cash to both loan and be secure in their stability.
The Economic Stabilization Act with its $700 billion of aid offers good hope to rebuild the mortgage-related securities market but not to do both tasks, that is, recapitalize banks. If the treasury tries to do both with this $700 billion they are going to put the U.S. economy and the World economy in for a long struggles and will likely deepen and lengthen the recession the U.S. and the World will experience compared with if they developed two well funded rescue programs. Experts say that with the illiquid asset problem, the problem entails assets well over a trillion dollars, it is going to be a hard slog to rebuild these markets with just $700 billion. And for the banks, the U.S. should be on the ready to pump at least $700 billion dollars of recapital into the banking industry to insure confidence in them and bring them out of these troubled waters. If the current plan is implemented the stock markets over the next eighteen months will continually be hearing rumors that this or another specific bank is in trouble and their will be a run on the specific bank and the bank will have to be rescued, continual Wachovia Bank type scenarios will be seen.
The Treasury and the Fed should stick with the Economic Stabilization Act's $700 billion dollar program to rebuild the mortgage backed securities market and with the recapitalization of U.S.banks problem do the following. The Treasury and the Fed should come up with a program like the Reconstruction Finance Corporation program that healed the banking industry during the Great Depression. The Treasury and the Fed should put a trillion dollars into this corporation and just like the original corporation program recapitalize banks by buying stocks in them. Based on the asset value of all U.S. banks, this type of large financial help, one trillion dollars, for the banking industry is needed. The Treasury and Fed should not micromanage the banks it buys equity stakes in but it should have authority to make sure they don't overextend, keeping liquidity to prevent runs and operate strongly, and don't act abusively with this new funding like pay exhorbitant salaries and bonuses to their top executives. The Treasury and Fed should also do with this Reconstruction program what was done with the original program, that is, prohibit participating banks from giving their shareholders dividends until the bank is healthy enough to buy out the U.S. government's equity stake in the bank and actually does buy out that stake, this way the U.S. taxpayer will be protected.
The Treasury and the Fed should put together a plan for this Reconstruction Finance Corporation program and take it to the leadership in Congress and get them provide their support for the program so it doesn't look like the White House is on what of its irresponsible jaunts with this program. The sooner the Treasury and Fed can get this specific rescue program for U.S. banks up and running the sooner the nation can put this banking problem of our nation to rest.  | 
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