Dr. Doom Blesses the Geithner Plan
The all too prescient NYU econ prof known as Dr. Doom gives the Obama toxic asset plan a reserved stamp of approval:
Mr. Roubini believes that the Treasury’s plan does not preclude nationalization at all. Rather, he said, it will help to clear the way to full government takeover of some troubled institutions.
“I see the option of nationalization” and the one presented by the Obama administration “as being complementary,” Mr. Roubini said. He believes that the stress tests the government plans on conducting on the banks will reveal which are solvent and which are insolvent.
In his view, those banks that are deemed insolvent will not participate in the toxic-asset plan and will be taken over by the government. Banks deemed solvent will be the ones that get to participate.
Nationalization “is fully on the table for banks that are insolvent,” Mr. Roubini said.