Foreign banks could qualify for U.S. mortgage bailout

[marmar]

Politico, via Yahoo!:



Foreign banks may get help
Mike Allen
2 hours, 30 minutes ago



In a change from the original proposal sent to Capitol Hill, foreign-based banks with big U.S. operations could qualify for the Treasury Department’s mortgage bailout, according to the fine print of an administration statement Saturday night.

The theory, according to a participant in the negotiations, is that if the goal is to solve a liquidity crisis, it makes no sense to exclude banks that do a lot of lending in the United States.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson confirmed the change on ABC's "This Week," telling George Stephanopoulos, calling the coverage of foreign-based banks "a distinction without a difference to the American people."

"If a financial institution has business operations in the United States, hires people in the United States, if they are clogged with illiquid assets, they have the same impact on the American people as any other institution," Paulson said.

"That's a distinction without a difference to the American people. The key here is protecting the system. ... We have a global financial system and we are talking very aggressively with other countries around the world and encouraging them to do similar things, and I believe a number of them will. But, remember, this is about protecting the American people and protecting the taxpayers. and the American people don't care who owns the financial institution. If the financial institution in this country has problems, it'll have the same impact whether it's the U.S. or foreign." .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080921/pl_politico/13690

[HamdenRice]

1. I have a sneaking suspicion that the Chinese, Japanese & European banks are dictating ...

a lot of this. If so, I guess they have to be allowed to participate.

[quartz]

3. Take off your "enemy seeking glasses"

and look for the truth.

Foreign banks were "ripped off" and they are angry.

[marmar]

4. But they were greedy and dumb enough to buy into the ponzi scheme from the outset.....

.... the telemarketer who called me yesterday offering a fabulous Orlando vacation for $49 if I gave him my credit card number was a good salemsan too, but I didn't take him up on the offer.

:think:

[quartz]

2. Paulson is a jerk and part of the problem.

There is another side to this story.

Foreign banks bought, in good faith, those falsely labeled mortgage packages from the US mortage banks, just like other US banks and pension funds did.

If the US government bails out only US banks, then the foreign banks would NEVER EVER do business with US banks again.

If you think that this country can survive without investment capital from foreign countries, then go back to your garden and tend to your squash.

If we want to be a global player, then we have to play by the rules.

[lonestarnot]

5. I think you need a couple more quartz.

[quartz]

6. A couple more squash?

[lonestarnot]

7. Rock paper scissors! At least squash is edible, last time I checked rocks were not.

[quartz]

8. There´s a restaurant all over the place

called Hard Rock Cafe, it seems that many people do eat rocks, especially the hard ones.

Go figure!

[closeupready]

9. self delete

n/t