Changes in Philosophy Bubbling Up in Banking Rescue Plans

In the Wall Street Journal (!), Paul Romer is suggesting something rather similar to my proposal, you know, the one where I suggest amputating the financial industry:

Everyone agrees that the United States urgently needs a few good banks. Turning bad banks into good banks is a difficult and risky way to get them. It's simpler and safer to start entirely new banks.

In this context, "good" means a bank with assets and liabilities that are easy to value using market prices. At a good bank, officers, regulators and investors can be confident about the value of the bank's capital.
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The government has $350 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds that it can use to encourage new bank lending. If this money is directed to newly created good banks with pristine balance sheets, it could support $3.5 trillion in new lending with a modest 9-to-1 leverage. Right out of the gate, the newly created banks could do what the Fed has already been doing -- buying pools of loans originated by existing banks that meet high underwriting standards.

This sounds an awful lot like what I was suggesting.

BTW, it also appears that Timothy Geithner is backing away from the bad bank idea, and looking at having equity shares that have votes, as opposed to preferred stocks.

He's fighting this kicking and screaming, but the banks are insolvent, and need to be nationalized or otherwise cut loose.