Reply #183: Let the private sector do it

[Alcibiades]

Government cannot set prices efficiently. Let the private sector value these assets.

That's what the economists and MBAs who have been championing this economy for years have been saying at every opportunity. If the government wants to set a higher minimum wage--oh, noes! That's socialism. If investment banks hold a lot of securities backed by bad mortgages--well, then it's time for government to step in and proactively correct this completely unforeseeable macroeconomic disequilibrium.

Fuck them very much. If this problem is so important to the Wall Street, let Wall Street fix it. 700 billion is a lot of capital? Sure, but isn't that what Wall Street is for? If Wall Street cannot get their hands on 700 billion in private capital for this, it must not be worth doing.