Do you think President Obama was tough enough on Wall Street?

[kentuck]

As a couple of commentators have said, if one of these trillion-dollar banks got into trouble, our government would bail them out, no matter the price.

If that is true, then a $50 billion dollar fund would only be a drop in the bucket. Who would pick up the rest of it? The taxpayers? Again?

Should the Congress break up these largest banks? Ten or twelve years ago, the top six banks' holdings equalled 17% of the GNP. Today, the top six equal 63% of the GNP. What does that tell you?

Should the President have been tougher or did he play it just about right? What is your opinion?

[DJ13]

1. No, he's not tough at all

To me tough would be to break up the TBTF banks into more manageable sizes instead of digging his heels in and keeping them alive.

One small point though, that $50 billion fund is supposedly only there to pay for banks to go into bankruptcy, not to bail them out (at least thats been the WH's message, dont know for sure).

[kentuck]

2. But those that say he should be tougher..

...say that none of these biggest banks would be permitted to go under. We would pay whatever it cost to protect them. The $50 billion would not start to save one of these banks...

[amborin]

6. agree; not tough at all

and until naked shorting is banned from banks, not merely "regulated" ( a sham), the fraud and bubbles will continue

[caty]

3. I would like added to the bill

that no public company (that sells stock) can give a raise or a bonus if that company is losing money. And even have the salaries cut in half for the top executives until they start making money again. Stock buyers are really being ripped off when the price of their stock plummets and then bonuses are handed out in the millions. It's going to get to the point where no one will want to invest their money in the stock market.

[zipplewrath]

4. Tough enough?

Don't you have to be tough, before we can decide whether it was "enough"?

[ecstatic]

5. Do theatrics really matter?

[TheKentuckian]

7. Nope, still begging them to "join us". They don't have to join anything

They need just comply.