(Community Matters) I don’t yet know enough details of the plan to be unveiled later today to have an opinion on its success. And, it isn’t hard to opine on areas of public sentiment.
If some of the players sitting on the sidelines are hesitant to enter because of possibility of future, retroactive regulation including executive compensation limits and disclosure as well as seriously threatening levels of public furor, I’d say they are smart to not play if their teams include bankers (including mortgage executives) tied to the excesses for which Americans are now paying dearly.
Administration officials taking to “the airwaves Sunday to reassure investors that the public would distinguish between companies like AIG . . . and private investment groups that, under this latest plan, would be helping the government . . .” are naive if they don’t recognize the decibel of wrath that’ll be heard if the same bankers are later shown to be reaping millions, conceivably billions. Many Americans wonder whether Geithner and Summers are too close to Wall Street to protect and promote taxpayers’ interests first; they’re starting to worry that President Obama may not be sufficiently otherwise advised.
This is problematic. Who has the knowledge, expertise and access to capital to build the private/public partnerships necessary for the Administration’s plans to succeed? Perhaps not enough, but there are others out there. I’d advise it should be the others, at least in the earliest – likely the most profitable – round of auctions.
Community Matters 