General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: A question for Obama and\or his supporters here: [View all]girl gone mad
(20,634 posts)the modern banking system.
Anyone who proclaims that the choice was between bailing out the banks, as was done, and full loss of deposits (the bank run/panic/depression scenario) is just clueless.
As I argued at the time, our best option was pre-privatization with shareholders wiped out, bondholders forced to take haircuts, management ousted, bonuses clawed back. We needed more credit writedowns and mortgage cramdowns. We should have ended the moral hazard and reinstated Glass-Steagall immediately when we had their balls in a sling. We could be in the midst of a genuine recovery right now rather than slogging along. Oh well.
Wait for the Barofsky book. You'll get a peek into why banks were allowed to plunder the national treasure on such a massive scale.