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Memories

By Anonymous

Simon Johnson, a year ago, on a resolution authority:

Imagine what happens when these powers are passed. The U.S. Treasury and FDIC would immediately have the tools [they] need to walk into America?s largest financial institutions, such as Citibank or Bank of America, and liquidate them, or rewrite their contracts and capital structures. Such powers are clearly useful: if the banks are undercapitalized, and private money is not available, then the government could force creditors to swap claims into equity, thus instantly recapitalizing the banks while avoiding use of taxpayer funds. With such steps, the problem of moral hazard, where creditors to banks are bailed out by taxpayers, would at once be forgotten. Shareholders in banks would lose through dilution, some (unsecured?) creditors would lose with debt-equity swaps, while the nation would be better off having a well-capitalized banking system. The banks would remain private but now be controlled by (ex)creditors.

Simon Johnson, a week ago, on a resolution authority:

But this notion of a resolution authority that can handle massive banks is a complete unicorn ? a mythical beast with magical powers that does not really exist. A US resolution authority does nothing to help handle the failure of international banks ? there is no cross-border resolution authority, nor will there be one anytime soon. If a Citi or a JP Morgan or a Goldman were to fail, our government would be in exactly the same awkward position as it was in during September-October 2008.

The point, yet again, is that Simon Johnson has absolutely no clue what he's talking about. He is the Ben Stein of financial reform.

Full post as published by Economics of Contempt on March 09, 2010 (boomark / email).