huskerbob

Why Goldman Sachs Should Return Its TARP Money

I doubt that goldman sachs relationship with our government has been so stormy, as you say. With their former CEO running Treasury? Are you kidding?
They have their billions funneled through AIG, and will now get to play with money leveraged by tax dollars. I don't think they will "put pressure on other firms to get healthy fast", it will put pressure on them to hire more and better connected lobbyists. GS got better because it's hogging all the medicine.

Turning Toxic Assets into Gold

Whoops! You forgot to mention that Mike also owns a condo in Miami, 4 in Phoenix, and 12 in Las Vegas (stated income loans don't you know).
He stopped paying on 5 of them 4 years ago, but these mortgages can be resurrected for sale, along with any other non performing junk the banks can dig up.
It seems highly unlikely that the US government is the only entity to correctly see the value of these products. The whole point of this exercise is to overpay for the assets. Private investors will buy on their own for the right price, but why should the banks take a big loss? The only loser should be the middle class, so that's what we're gonna do.
I guess the value is such a slam dunk, we are going to make no recourse loans with the taxpayer's money!
These assets aren't toxic, just overpriced.
Why not just do the same thing for homeowners? Let the government use your tax dollars to help investors buy your neighbor's house at 2006 prices. It's just as stupid, and it will buy a lot of votes.