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SlowDownFast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-12-09 11:31 AM
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9. Here's a different article (different author) with a similar perspective:
Edited on Sun Apr-12-09 11:33 AM by SlowDownFast

Obama Stakes His Fortunes on Failed Banksters: Jonathan Weil

Commentary by Jonathan Weil

April 9 (Bloomberg) -- Now that we have a rough idea how President Barack Obama and his lieutenants plan to prop up insolvent financial institutions using taxpayers’ money, we’re left with a more difficult question: Why?

Why doesn’t the Obama administration force insolvent banks and insurance companies to come clean about their losses first? It’s the “why” that’s so vexing. The who, what, when, and how are mere details, by comparison.

More than anyone else’s, it should be in Obama’s political self-interest to accelerate the worst of the financial crisis and get as much of the inevitable pain behind us as quickly as possible. Every day he waits is one less day he will have between the time we hit rock bottom and the next election. And yet, Obama and his minions are doing all they can to delay the reckoning, which only will make it worse.

When publicly owned companies change management, often the smartest thing a new chief executive officer can do is clear the decks and take a “big bath” charge to earnings. In other words, the company writes off all its worthless assets and reports huge losses, pushing every conceivable drop of red ink into the past. The new CEO gets to blame his predecessor’s dumb mistakes. The company gets a fresh start with the investing public.

Obama could have taken the same approach with the banks the moment he took office, while he still had standing to blame the financial crisis on George W. Bush’s administration, stupid regulators, and corrupt lawmakers -- that is, everyone but himself.

read more:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aNMQDysdnKRc&refer=columnist_weil
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