Nationalizing U.S. Banks May Be Unavoidable

Yahoo! News Blog

A touchy word has entered the public debate about the future of America’s economy. It’s a word that would shock the nation in normal times, but as even Republicans begin to whisper it, temporary “nationalization” of troubled banks is increasingly seen as the best option for fixing our financial system.

While the White House says it continues to “strongly believe that a privately held banking system is the correct way to go,” figures like former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan say government intervention could be the least bad alternative left for policymakers.

Simply put: Nationalizing ailing banks could mean the government would tell bank execs to take a hike, and then oversee taxpayer dollars as credit courses through the banking sector’s veins. When all is well, after quickly re-privatizing the banks by possibly selling assets and operations to new investors, the government then steps back and lets a newly regulated bank sector float on its way …

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75% Oppose Nationalization of U.S. Banks

Rasmussen Reports

All sorts of big government solutions are being proposed to combat the country’s economic troubles, but Americans are clear on one thing: 75% say the federal government should not take over the U.S. banking system.

Only nine percent (9%) think nationalization of America’s banks is a good idea, and 16% are undecided in a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Investors are even more emphatic. Seventy-eight percent (78%) oppose government control of the banks, compared to 71% of non-investors.

With bank closings running at record levels and two of the country’s major banks, Bank of America and Citicorp, struggling, some prominent liberal economists are arguing for government takeovers until the financial institutions are straightened out. The president of Bank of America in a television interview last week rejected as “absurd” rumors that his bank was facing nationalization …

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