Oh, sure ...
I have that kind of cash laying around.
From the nuts at CNBC:
Goldman Sachs estimated that it would take on the order of $4 trillion to buy troubled mortgage and consumer debt. That number could shrink if the program were limited to only certain loans or banks, but it could also grow if other asset classes such as commercial real estate loans were included.
New York Sen. Charles Schumer has said that a number of experts thought that up to $4 trillion may be needed to buy the bad assets, an estimate that a Senate aide said was based on informal conversations with people in the industry.
The Wall Street Journal said government officials had discussed spending $1 trillion to $2 trillion to help restore banks to health, citing people familiar with the matter.
You know ... Let's just give it to them.
No questions asked!
Heh.
Really ...
There is no effective argument anymore as to why the government should not simply seize these failing institutions and take on all of their assets and liabilities.
My guess is that it will be cheaper in the long run and ...
We would gain control over these mammoth wealth-suckers who have dug pits in the global economy so deep that they are threatening to swallow up the fruits of all the work that we -- and generations to come -- can produce.
We should not take this abuse any more.
The U.S. government should start moving to take over these banks.
Fire the management, or give them the option to stay on the job at civil service salaries.
Reclaim ill-gotten gains from board members and executives about $100,000 or so.
Dramatically reform the institutions.
Stabilize the businesses.
And the re-privatize some years from now when the poison has been flushed from the system.