Clinging Banks.

Editor,

Banks clinging to the garbage that they bought (thinking it was easy money at gouged mortgagees' expense) are at the heart of the mess as it stands today, and the nation's economy is being held hostage by their refusal to eat their losses.

The solution is to force the banks to sell that junk at prices private "investor" sharks will pay, then recapitalize the banks in a manner similar to what Mr. Geithner laid out today.

"Losers" always . . . tsk, tsk . . . lose provided it isn't the rich. Well, guess what. Now it's the rich's turn, and the sooner they -- and Barack Obama's government -- wake up to this fact the better.

re: "Bailout Plan: $2.5 Trillion and a Strong U.S. Hand" (2/11/2009)