Another plan from the Treasury to shore up the capital of banks: [Hat tip Freedom's Phoenix.]
In a significant shift, White House and Treasury Department officials now say they can stretch what is left of the $700 billion financial bailout fund further than they had expected a few months ago, simply by converting the government’s existing loans to the nation’s 19 biggest banks into common stock.
Converting those loans to common shares would turn the federal aid into available capital for a bank — and give the government a large ownership stake in return.
While the option appears to be a quick and easy way to avoid a confrontation with Congressional leaders wary of putting more money into the banks, some critics would consider it a back door to nationalization, since the government could become the largest shareholder in several banks.
What does this mean for us?
Taxpayers would also be taking on more risk, because there is no way to know what the common shares might be worth when it comes time for the government to sell them.
So would this finally put banks on a solid financial footing?
Treasury officials estimate that they will have about $135 billion left after they follow through on all the loans that have already been announced. But the nation’s banks are believed to need far more than that to maintain enough capital to absorb all their losses from soured mortgages and other loan defaults.
In his budget proposal for next year, Mr. Obama included $250 billion in additional spending to prop up the financial system. Because of the way the government accounts for such spending, the budget actually indicated that Mr. Obama might ask Congress for as much as $750 billion.
President Obama said yesterday that he would not pour taxpayer money into a "black hole". Just where is he pouring it then?
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The grownups are starting to notice:
“Bank bafflement”, by Paul Krugman, New York Times blog, April 20, 2009.
The only thing I notice is that banking is a really great con job. It does not matter what add you click on, or what any banksters advertise for refinancing, or who you end up talking to. They all lie, it always costs about a thousand more than they say. The current excuse?, you don’t owe enough money on that house, it’ll cost you extra to refinance. Give me a break. So if they don’t make 5-10k a year on a loan vs. 1-5k they can’t break even. Why?, because they have to pay back Uncle Sam?, or they like free rides and want risk vs. safety.
What a joke.