IF EVEN DOUG HOLTZ-EAKIN IS SAYING IT…. It’s seems difficult, at least in theory, to characterize bank nationalization as radical socialism when so many conservatives keep endorsing the idea.
Alan Greenspan recently said, “It may be necessary to temporarily nationalize some banks in order to facilitate a swift and orderly restructuring. I understand that once in a hundred years this is what you do.”
Doug Holtz-Eakin, a top advisor to the McCain-Palin campaign last year, has joined the club.
“The right thing to do is to apply the principles of responsibility and competition, and the lessons of history to get this right. The most important lesson is that failed, insolvent banks cannot be permitted to continue to operate using taxpayers’ subsidies. Letting these “zombies” walk the financial system was at the heart of the savings and loan crisis and the slow Japanese recovery from its financial crisis. These institutions should be taken over, their management and shareholders suffer the consequences of their failure, and the assets re-sold to private sector entities as fast as is feasible. That’s good policy: discipline failure, promote real competition, and use assets effectively in the private sector.”
If the Obama administration is scared of the political implications, maybe they can use these guys as cover?
