- Jun 6, 2007
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Americas leaders dont optimally look out for the American peoples interests when they dont send the banking, investment banking and investing communities the message you invest irresponsibly and you are going to pay a serious price for it.
They must hold to this principle to deter such dangerous behavior in the future. This rescue initiative the Federal Reserve Board and the Treasury Department are developing for financial institutions as it has been reported in the media so far violates this principle. Fortunately, there is still time for the Fed & Treasury to make this an initiative that upholds this principle.
The Fed & Treasury initiative is to buy illiquid assets from financial institutions so that they will be healthy enough to raise new capital and invest that capital causing the economy to be able to function well and grow. The basic framework is excellent but it needs important modifications. This plan lets the big investors in these financial institutions and the managers that ran these institutions off the hook for their irresponsible investments over recent years. Any damn fool would know many of these bonds that were derivatives from these sub-prime mortgages were bad investments, that other investments these financial institutions created , e.g. some swaps, were not based on sound financial principles, etc.. These financial institutions and their big investors should pay and pay dearly for their irresponsibility.
The way to make these financial institutions pay is for the U.S. government to take equity from these financial institutions for taking these distressed mortgages and securities off their hands. The Fed & Treasury should uphold its principle that bailouts costs equity which it upheld in its recent Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac and AIG bailouts.
Specifically, the Fed & Treasury should tailor their rescue plan for financial institutions as such. There should be this reverse auction where the financial institutions offer their distressed assets at a price they set. First though, the U.S. government should be able to give priority in buying distressed assets to financial institutions it deems are most important to the well-being of the U.S. economy. Secondly and this is critically important, whenever the U.S. government buys a distressed asset it gets common stock in the financial institution. The amount of common stock issued to the U.S. government equaling twenty-five percent of that sale with the pricing of that common stock for determining the number of stocks to be issued to be the lowest daily closing price of that stock over the prior eighteen months. The U.S. government will promise not to sell the stock for five years and so the financial institution do not later issue additional stock to dilute the value of the government stock the U.S. government will have veto power over later stock issuances by that financial institution for fifteen years and if that financial institution does later issue preferred stock the U.S. government has the right to convert its common stock to preferred stock Thirdly, if the U.S. government deems the bid price the financial institution is asking for its distressed assets is above fair market value, the U.S. government still has the power to buy that distressed asset if it deems it is in the best interests of the American people to help that financial institution. However, the U.S. government should not pay more than 150% of the fair market value of that asset and besides the above outlined stock issuance requirement there should also be the requirement that for whatever premium the U.S. government is paying the financial institution for their distressed asset the financial institution should issue the U.S. government common stock in the amount of the premium dollar for dollar with the same favorable criteria to the U.S. government used to determine the number of stocks the U.S. government receives.
Lastly, the U.S. government should stop subverting the principle of holding financial institutions accountable by using Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy distressed mortgage bonds from these institutions which puts the U.S. tax payer on the line to absorb the financial losses stemming from these bonds. Use, the above outlined initiative to help these financial institutions.
They must hold to this principle to deter such dangerous behavior in the future. This rescue initiative the Federal Reserve Board and the Treasury Department are developing for financial institutions as it has been reported in the media so far violates this principle. Fortunately, there is still time for the Fed & Treasury to make this an initiative that upholds this principle.
The Fed & Treasury initiative is to buy illiquid assets from financial institutions so that they will be healthy enough to raise new capital and invest that capital causing the economy to be able to function well and grow. The basic framework is excellent but it needs important modifications. This plan lets the big investors in these financial institutions and the managers that ran these institutions off the hook for their irresponsible investments over recent years. Any damn fool would know many of these bonds that were derivatives from these sub-prime mortgages were bad investments, that other investments these financial institutions created , e.g. some swaps, were not based on sound financial principles, etc.. These financial institutions and their big investors should pay and pay dearly for their irresponsibility.
The way to make these financial institutions pay is for the U.S. government to take equity from these financial institutions for taking these distressed mortgages and securities off their hands. The Fed & Treasury should uphold its principle that bailouts costs equity which it upheld in its recent Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac and AIG bailouts.
Specifically, the Fed & Treasury should tailor their rescue plan for financial institutions as such. There should be this reverse auction where the financial institutions offer their distressed assets at a price they set. First though, the U.S. government should be able to give priority in buying distressed assets to financial institutions it deems are most important to the well-being of the U.S. economy. Secondly and this is critically important, whenever the U.S. government buys a distressed asset it gets common stock in the financial institution. The amount of common stock issued to the U.S. government equaling twenty-five percent of that sale with the pricing of that common stock for determining the number of stocks to be issued to be the lowest daily closing price of that stock over the prior eighteen months. The U.S. government will promise not to sell the stock for five years and so the financial institution do not later issue additional stock to dilute the value of the government stock the U.S. government will have veto power over later stock issuances by that financial institution for fifteen years and if that financial institution does later issue preferred stock the U.S. government has the right to convert its common stock to preferred stock Thirdly, if the U.S. government deems the bid price the financial institution is asking for its distressed assets is above fair market value, the U.S. government still has the power to buy that distressed asset if it deems it is in the best interests of the American people to help that financial institution. However, the U.S. government should not pay more than 150% of the fair market value of that asset and besides the above outlined stock issuance requirement there should also be the requirement that for whatever premium the U.S. government is paying the financial institution for their distressed asset the financial institution should issue the U.S. government common stock in the amount of the premium dollar for dollar with the same favorable criteria to the U.S. government used to determine the number of stocks the U.S. government receives.
Lastly, the U.S. government should stop subverting the principle of holding financial institutions accountable by using Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy distressed mortgage bonds from these institutions which puts the U.S. tax payer on the line to absorb the financial losses stemming from these bonds. Use, the above outlined initiative to help these financial institutions.
