Treasury Presses Ahead With Plan For Toxic Assets
New Body to Work With Private Investors
By David Cho
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 22, 2009; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/21/AR2009032102246.htmlThe Treasury Department will unveil the next step in its financial rescue efforts tomorrow, announcing that it intends to create a government body, called the Public Investment Corp., to finance the purchase of as much as $1 trillion in soured loans and toxic assets from ailing banks, according to sources.
The plan calls for the new entity to combine its resources with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Federal Reserve and private investors to buy those loans and other assets. But the government will put far more money into the deals and take on more risk than the investors, which could include hedge funds, private-equity firms, pension funds and foreign investors with U.S. headquarters, the sources said. The corporation will be funded with $75 billion to $100 billion from the $700 billion financial rescue package.
=============
forgive me if I've "got the stupid" on this....
The Public Investment Corp (PIC) - buys toxic assets from the banks/corps. It plans on at least partially using PRIVATE INVESTORS.
Ok - so who are these PRIVATE INVESTORS? Will the include the very same corporate banksters that got us in this mess in the first place? If so - WHAT A SWEET DEAL!
How so? Let's say I'm a bankster, I've got $100million toxic assets on my books, I sell them to PIC for $Xmillion, then I turn around and buy them back for even less than the "sale price" - after all I don't want to pay "full price" because these assets are Toxic.
Meanwhile, what regs are going to be put in place to ensure the "PRIVATE INVSESTORS" don't go all hog-wild again.