How to Solve the Biggest Problems with the Bailout Plan:

[Junkdrawer]

As I see it, here's the two biggest problems with the current bailout plan:

1.) How to set a reasonable price for the "troubled assets"

2.) What to do with the "troubled assets" once they're "repaired" (e.g. the bad mortgages are removed.)

Why not this:

1.) If we have to buy outright the troubled asset, you get fire sale prices (e.g. 20 cents on the dollar or less)

2.) Otherwise, we'll give you a loan for, say, 80 cents on the dollar with these two provisions:
A: Give the Treasury the legal right to repair the bundle.
B: Upon paying back the loan, with interest, you get back the repaired bundle.

Seems fair, allows the Treasury to do what Banks say they can't and injects liquidity.

[Junkdrawer]

1. They keep saying the taxpayer may "make money", but they admit...

that the current plan has the taxpayer taking ALL THE RISK.

This idea spreads more of the risk to where it belongs: to the banks that bought the bad debt in the first place.