From AP: Paulson said, “There’s no doubt that the way to get the maximum bang for the taxpayers here was to invest in banks.” Taxpayer bang. Discuss…
That’s what she said.
have they released the T’s and C’s for these preferred shares? If the banks actually do pay the dividends (pretty big if right now), how would the government use them? Economic stimulus packages or tax breaks?
dspapo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > have they released the T’s and C’s for these > preferred shares? > > If the banks actually do pay the dividends (pretty > big if right now), how would the government use > them? Economic stimulus packages or tax breaks? Probably something boring like pay down national debt. I’m skeptical on the “bang” theory though.
I thought the post said BONG for taxpayers (that would probably make more sense). I think Pauslon is saying that the cheapest and most effective way to spend the 700b bailout fund is to take a direct equity stake in the major banks. While this may be true – and a complete 180 to previous positions held by Mr. Paulson – this can set the stage for a pretty radical change to US policy in terms of government intervention into the markets. Plus, according to the most recent Nobel laureate, Mr. Bernake (arguably the person most suited to handle this crisis) was in favor of this move originally, while Mr. Paulson was not. For better or worse in six months the US gov’t will be a major shareholder in all of the major banks and both house and the presidency will be run by the dems. The pendulum needs to swing a bit in the other direction e.g., beefed up regulation, more transparency, increased public awareness into financial matters (my friend couldn’t believe that his 100k student loan is going to cost him ~$800 per month for the next 15 yrs; he thought it would be under $200), let’s just hope it doesn’t swing too far.
TJR Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- (my friend > couldn’t believe that his 100k student loan is > going to cost him ~$800 per month for the next 15 > yrs; he thought it would be under $200), let’s > just hope it doesn’t swing too far. i hope he didnt major in a business degree. its funny how ppl will take on school debt without even asking about the payment terms.
Na, he’s some kinda of medical tech guy. His loans were a complete mess all different rates some as high as 11 and 12%. Plus, we called sallie mae and citigroup (each picked up about half of the total loan) and neither would do a consolidation; sallie doesn’t even give the .25% discount for automatic bill pay.