Brian Shriver

Congress: Please, Don't Rush the Bailout Plan

I agree and I hope they listen. This strikes me as, among other things, a liquidity solution to a solvency problem. And not particularly well targeted - all holders of toxic waste will benefit, not just systemically important US banks.

To address the solvency problem, an automatic, mandatory recapitalization for all US banks would be a better. If banks currently have a market cap of $2T then $700B should buy about 25%. This would certainly help the majority of healthier banks survive, and would let the markets continue to try to value the toxic waste. There could even be provisions for eventual buy-backs which might cap the profits of US taxpayers.

Giving Paulson a $700 billion check to dole out to his circle of friends is just obscene.