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Advice From Japan Dont Forget Tarp 1

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by Zubin Jelveh
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Dec 19 2008 2:31pm EDT

Advice from Japan: Don't Forget TARP 1

Delivered via Janet Yellen, who just came back from a trip to East Asia:

analysts universally concluded that the government needs to help banks get toxic assets off their balance sheets. Otherwise, banks will remain focused on the potential for further deterioration of these loans at the expense of looking forward and making new loans. Thus, new capital will be hoarded to protect against potential new losses. Equally important is price discovery. In Japan, the government took severe haircuts in purchasing assets from banks (in 2000). This policy reduced uncertainty by establishing a floor price for future asset sales. Everyone we met with urged the U.S. to move forward with an asset disposition program, as originally envisioned for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

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