Monday, March 23

"The 4th Time is a Charm"

That was a quote from an economist I heard on a news show tonight. It only took six months, one boy genius and about 958 trillion dollars, but those who understand this mess seem to think that the plan to buy up the toxic assets is a winner.

Apparently the market agreed since it went up almost 500 points today. I guess Opie Geitner finally proved his worth.

All kidding aside, I wish I could explain this entire mess to you in lay terms but I just don't understand it. I have no idea why anybody would willingly buy bad assets but apparently someone is willing and it is suppose to help us get out from under this mess.

So I'm not going to pretend like I know what is going on with the economy. Instead, I'm going to steer you toward some articles that will provide a better framework and narrative for you.

Then once you understand it, please come back and explain it to me!

My Plan for Bad Bank Assets, Wall Street Journal

Treasury Unveils Details of Plan to Relieve Banks of Toxic Assets, The Washington Post

Will the Geitner Plan Work? David Gergen, CNN

Inside Obama's Economic Brain Trust, NY Mag

2 comments:

Someone Being Me said...

I'll admit it is all a little over my head too which I think is what TurboTax Timmy is counting on. The average taxpayer won't understand how they are getting screwed. They just see the market going up. Here are links to two of the finance guys I read regularly who explain it in slightly simpler language, even if you don't completely understand you will still get the gist of it.

http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/894-Open-Letter-To-The-FDIC-Ombudsman.html

http://realestateandhousing2.blogspot.com/2009/03/geithners-gift-to-hedge-funds.html

Livin' Life said...

Nat,
Do you know or have any links about how this will affect the First Time Home buyers? We need to buy a home this summer and we are just worried about how these federal buy outs will affect us in purchasing a home or getting a mortgage. YOu might not have any links but I thought I would ask. It just all seems so overwhelming right now. Will this hurt us honest home buyers who want a decent house without breaking the Bank?

 

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