Tuesday, September 23, 2008

What are the choices for the financial bail-out?

"There are no atheists in foxholes, and no Libertarians in economic chaos."

A quip to remember when thinking about this Wall Street bail-out. The discussion is to about whether it should be done but how it should be done. the discussion is whether strings should be attached or not. There is limited discussion whether this is the right time or whether this plan is the best approach to the market. The real issue is whether these securities have been properly marked in the portfolio of investors. If they are properly priced, then the loses are already on the balance sheet. A major concern is that assets have not been properly priced and the Bail-out may not solve this problem even if they are purchased.

The most important issue is the financing of the real economy and not the repositioning of bad assets between portfolios. The real question is whether there are good assets that can be financed at this time or is there a spillover that has created a gridlock of financing. This is the issue that has to be more clearly addressed

No comments: