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Obama rescue deal will fail, says Stiglitz
Nick Goodway17 Apr 2009
US President Barack Obama's bank rescue package is likely to fail, says Nobel Prize-winning US economist Joseph Stiglitz.
He said the scheme focuses too much on helping Wall Street banks, instead of addressing the health of the entire financial system.
"All the ingredients they have so far are weak and there are several missing ingredients," he added.
He claimed those who designed the Obama plan were "either in the pocket of the banks or they're incompetent".
He said the Troubled Asset Relief Programme (Tarp), which saw the government bail out banks to the tune of $310 billion (£209.3 billion), had not gone far enough. He also accused the Obama administration of conflicts of interest because some key advisers had close links to Wall Street.
"We don't have enough money, they don't want to go back to Congress, they don't want to do it in an open way and they don't want to get control," Stiglitz said. "The bank restructuring has been a complete mess."
His comments came after JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs said they wanted to return the $25 billion and $10 billion they received as part of Tarp.
Reader views (2)
Obama campaigned by saying he would be open to new ideas, but he isn't...it's his way, or his staff's way, or nothing. Or maybe it's George Soros' way!
- Bobc, Ky USA, 19/04/2009 12:35
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This is a depression, not a recession. Many have not realised this yet. Obama has not realised this yet = failure.
- Dave Davies, Basingstoke, 17/04/2009 10:33
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