The problem is we can pretty accurately know what it will cost to make depositors whole, but the stealth bailouts with no transparency have no practical upper limit.
… as taxpayers we don’t have any idea how big the CDS books of these banks are, or how many banks the Fed is going to bailout.
Josh[/quote]
Josh, these two statements are completely incompatible. On the one hand you say that we know what it will cost to make depositors whole and yet on the other hand you say that we don’t have any idea how big the CDS books of the banks are. If we don’t know the value of the CDS books, how can we know what it will cost to make depositors whole? That makes absolutely zero sense.
My point is, hey, let’s STOP putting more money into these pigs, treat them like government entities for a few years, and let the earnings of the good parts of the bank fill the holes at the bad parts. The equity holders are hosed regardless. But why have a fire sale of assets when it’s the taxpayers and bank customers who will be subsidizing the profits of Wall Street and PE firms? That seems like adding insult to injury. But, hey, some folks are masochists.
