On October 25, 1929 at the beginning of the stock market panic, Richard Whitney, then Vice President of the New York Stock Exchange, walked onto the floor of the Exchange. At one of the darkest hours of the history of the Exchange, Whitney, at behest of his banking clients, bought a large amount of shares of blue chip stock while everyone around him was trying to sell as quickly as possible. The tactic was designed at best to nip the panic in the bud or at worst, delay the inevitable in order to fool the market to allow major investors time to divest and minimize their losses.
Metaphorically, Secretary Paulson is about to be sent to the floor of the financial world with a massive checking account to buy assets in order to "save our economy".
More after the break
Read More