How could a supposed smart person say this: White House Economic Advisor Lawrence Summers said Monday that there is substantial private investor interest in the government’s public and private partnership plan to take bad assets off banks’ balance sheets. Stocks rallied following the announcement Monday morning, and Summers reacted by saying, “we’re gratified by the [...]

Geithner: My Plan for Bad Bank Assets – WSJ.com This requires those in the private sector to remember that government assistance is a privilege, not a right. When financial institutions come to us for direct financial assistance, our government has a responsibility to ensure these funds are deployed to expand the flow of credit to [...]

From 60 Minutes: “It’s going to take a little bit more time than we would like to make sure that we get this plan just right. Of course, then we’d still be subject to criticism. What’s taken so long? You’ve been in office a whole 40 days and you haven’t solved the greatest financial crisis [...]

A.I.G. Planning Huge Bonuses After $170 Billion Bailout – New York Times (3/14/09): The administration official said the Treasury Department did its own legal analysis and concluded that those contracts could not be broken. The official noted that even a provision recently pushed through Congress by Senator Christopher J. Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, had an [...]