The only comment I will put forth here is one which I think makes the most common sense regarding the Bailout. Before the taxpayers buy one piece of this @#**&^ from any bank, institution or whoever, they must give a total accounting of what they hold. An example for mortgages would be: what state the mortgage is in; what the FICO score of the borrower is; whether the loan is current and if not, the details thereon; and finally, what that entities’ considers the true assessed value of each property (if possible). I would then weight the mortgages into 5 categories based upon how likely the US Taxpayers will get repaid.
The first category would be the true toxic waste and I would pay $0 (ZERO) for this junk. The second category would be 25% or less for this loan to be useful to anyone, which I would pay $.22 for a dollar of value. The third category is where there is a 25%-50% chance the loan will perform which I would pay $.35 for a dollar of value. The fourth category would be where it is 50%-75% likely to have value and pay $.50 per dollar. The last category, 75%-100% value and pay $.65 per dollar. I feel for most banks etc. this would blend somewhere between $.40 to $.50 per dollar of mortgages held by them.
I feel this is much higher than these entities would receive on the open market, but a much more realistic value for the taxpayers to pay. A value where we would stand a 50-50 chance of making money on this deal. Granted we, the so called main street, may benefit from any plan by having some credit available to us again, but who took it away and why should they get any more than they deserve, if anything at all. Yes, we the taxpayers should be no more, or no less, prudent about how, and to who, we give our money than anyone would be with us if we had to borrow money. AND OUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES SHOULD BE MORE SO.
AT LEAST THIS WAY WE WOULD KNOW WHAT WE ARE PAYING FOR AND NOT LEAVING IT TO A “HANK” PAULSON TYPE WHO BY ALL ACCOUNTS, SAY HE WILL BE PAYING TOO MUCH!!! Maybe Warren Buffett does have some conflicts based upon his Goldman Sachs investment, but I would rather listen to him and the Pimco’s Bill Gross types about what the taxpayers should be paying for this stuff.
If you would like to read a great explanation of what is in the current Bailout proposal, please read this article:
“Analyzing The Bailout: What’s In It, Anyway?” by Henry Blodget on Clusterstock.com.
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