FT: Greenspan backs bank nationalisation

[jordi_fanclub]

Source: Financial Times

Published: February 18 2009

The US government may have to nationalise some banks on a temporary basis to fix the financial system and restore the flow of credit, Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman, has told the Financial Times.

In an interview, Mr Greenspan, who for decades was regarded as the high priest of laisser-faire capitalism, said nationalisation could be the least bad option left for policymakers.

Read more: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e310cbf6-fd4e-11dd-a103-000077b07658,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2Fe310cbf6-fd4e-11dd-a103-000077b07658.html%3Fnclick_check%3D1&_i_referer=&nclick_check=1

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Something in hell is frozen... quickly. :P

BTW, Greenspan's Body Count is at 81 now: http://greenspansbodycount.blogspot.com/

[bluestateguy]

1. Ah, the things you can say when you are out of office

I suppose next week Bill Clinton will call for full legalization of marijuana.

[NV Whino]

2. Nationalize temporarily?

Right.

[Lucky Luciano]

5. Sweden did this during their massive banking crisis of the early 90s.

Easier for them since it is a much smaller country and easier to manage.

[GinaMaria]

19. Was it successful?

Could we follow their model but on a larger scale?

[Lucky Luciano]

20. It was quite successful....I really do not know if

it scales well to our country's size. I really don't know...The US has 33X more people and far more banks and tangled webs in the financial system. It would be a spectacular feat if we could do it, but I will not say impossible.

[RedEarth]

3. Not a fan of Greenspan, but I think we will have to nationalize some of the banks

[olegramps]

4. Nationalize some of the banks?

Hell no! Nationalize ALL of the banks and not just temporarily.

[Mugweed]

6. It can't be temporary.

Otherwise it will be the same old bullshit: socialize the losses and then, when the bank is doing well, privatize the profits. If a bank is nationalized it will have to be permanent.

[ShortnFiery]

9. "...socialize the losses and then, when the bank is doing well, privatize the profits."

Spot on! It should NOT be temporary.

[NM Independent]

7. Temporarily my ass. Do it, and...

NO privatization until the people have a chance to make a profit back.

[acmavm]

8. I would have thought this worthless bastid would shut his fucking mouth

and lay low, all things considered. He has a big chunk of responsibility for this mess.

[debbierlus]

10. I think a key point to remember - we are already nationalizing them with funding

But, little say or control.

I have seen a lot of very respectable economists making this point. If we are to fund them, we should have say and reward as well as risk.

I think it is necessary. The question is would it be properly executed to ensure protection of the people?

[defendandprotect]

16. Right . . . the difference NOT re-privatizing them down the road . . .

Of course, that's what Greenspan is after -- nationalize and then auction them off again.

NO -- nationalize them and hold on to them -- run them as government banks.

[Romulox]

11. How much does Greenspan expect to make on the deal? nt

[thereismore]

12. STFU and enjoy your retirement, because others will not be able because of you. nt

[david_vincent]

13. Is the Greenspan body count limited to the U.S., or does it include

people in other countries as well? I'm thinking of the guy in the U.K. who cut his head off with a chain saw rather than be evicted.

[seafan]

14. Nationalize the banks, say Greenspan and ..... Lindsay Graham.

Greenspan backs nationalisation

by Alex Barker
February 18, 2009

Greenspan, the high priest of laisser-faire capitalism and an “honorary adviser” to Gordon Brown, told the FT that seizing banks was a least worst option.

“It may be necessary to temporarily nationalise some banks in order to facilitate a swift and orderly restructuring,” he said. “I understand that once in a hundred years this is what you do.”

This point is particularly relevant for the UK.

Nationalisations would “allow the government to transfer toxic assets to a bad bank without the problem of how to price them”.

Even Republicans are having a change of heart. Lindsay Graham, the senator from South Carolina, warns that keeping comatose banks on government life-support may compound the problem.

“You should not get caught up on a word ,” he told the Financial Times in an interview. “I would argue that we cannot be ideologically a little bit pregnant. It doesn’t matter what you call it, but we can’t keep on funding these zombie banks . That’s what the Japanese did.”

Yes, Hell is freezing over.

[alcibiades_mystery]

15. The Oracle turns out to be a fucking idiot

I could have told you that in 1994, but then I'm a filthy fucking marxist, so what do I know?

[Hubert Flottz]

17. "Body Count is at 81" A sad sum...

Alan Greedspin don't care, he's too rich to care and besides that, his wife is still making big money.

Big Al's the "Expert" that didn't see any real problems with the economy until about a year ago, other than the fact that the Baby Boomers were about to start drawing out their Social Security, that BTW, they'd paid into all their working lives. Heckuva A Job Al...

YAWNNNNNNNnnnn...Wake me up when anterless CEO season comes in!

[benld74]

18. What NEEDS to be DONE is,,,

Using a stress test on what is on the banks books, ALL BANKS, assess them and determine capital needed. IF the capital CANNOT be raised within a period of time, they are in VIOLATION ota their banking terms.
FDIC THEN comes in and does what it does to the little banks. FDIC is great at doing this.
This is an intervention by the FDIC NOT a nationalization. GET different board, officers etc. Atitrust is used to break up the BIG boys. Banks get smaller, and taxpayers get some type of relief.
BUT political support is needed, which GOP will fight against to high heaven. The concentration of power of banking institutions is too great and must change. Standard oil was broken up in early 19th century because it got too big AND powerful, JUST like todays banks.

[goforit]

21. Then we all can really be scammed!!! The Gov't has no accountability. Right Obama?