Morning Bell: Would You Do Business with this Government?
Conn Carroll /
This Saturday a bus filled with about 40 people pulled into a cul-de-sac in Fairfield County, Connecticut where a pastor and a steelworker disembarked and made their way to the front door of one of the large homes in the neighborhood. The protestors did not make it to the door however, as they were met by a security guard working to protect the home’s owner: AIG executive Doug Poling.
The identities of most current and former AIG employees remain private, for now, but for those executives whose names are known, life now includes security guards at their homes, reporters in their driveways, and vehicles invading their neighborhoods. Nobody was hurt and the protest went off without incident, but the event should serve as a dire warning for anyone even thinking about participating in Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s new Public-Private Investment Program.
This latest Geithner plan envisions spending at least $500 billion and up to $1 trillion, 95% of which would come from the government, to remove “legacy assets” from the balance sheets of troubled financial institutions. Private investors, hedge funds and other financial institutions, would manage the assets, but they would receive heavily subsidized government loans and guarantees from the government to cap their losses.