Description

I understand that Goldman representatives met with senior staff of Senate Banking, House Financial Services, the Joint Economic Committee and other leadership staff, late last week, to put forward a view on the good bank - bad bank type of approach.


Sources have informed me they wonder if the plan discussed by Goldman was put forward in coordination with, with knowledge by, or with support from the Treasury Department. Included in the presentation are several telling statements including:


- "Government actions to date have prioritized interacting with banking institutions rather than directly influencing troubled asset prices";
- "To date, banks have executed minimal de-risking, have not attracted meaningful additional common equity capital or sufficiently increased lending"; and
- "A government program which provides non-recourse loans for asset markets should have a material impact on addressing these current challenges and could be an attractive alternative for the "aggregator bank" to explore:"


I am unable to vouch for the authenticity of the following document but I was told, by senior Hill sources, it was provided to those legislators and their staff briefed by the Goldman representatives. I have little reason to doubt my multiple sources.