Greatest Generation = War Bonds; My Generation = Bailout Bonds

I guess this is from the “Are You Kidding Me?” Department.

The New York Times is reporting tonight that the Obama Administration is trying to figure out how to securitize for the masses the steaming pile of poo known as Wall Street’s toxic assets.  In other words, can the government get you to invest in a mutual fund-like vehicle which would buy the subprime mortgage bundles you’re already subsidizing with your tax dollars?

Huh?

The Times, in it’s wonderfully-at-times understated way says the plan is fraught with risks, but might work like this:

The new funds, the thinking goes, would buy troubled mortgage securities from banks, enabling the lenders to make the new loans that are needed to rekindle the economy. Many of the loans that back these securities were made during the subprime era. If all goes well, the funds will eventually sell the investments at a profit.

But, as with any investment, there are risks. If, as some analysts suspect, the banks’ assets are worth even less than believed, the funds’ investors could suffer significant losses.

Does it seem to anyone else that we’re so stuck in a bad behavior pattern that our collective ingenuity has just taken a day off during this whole mess?  The bastards that brought all of this upon the world need to be nationalized for a period of time sufficient to unwind their ridiculous schemes and taken public once again under an old-fashioned regulatory regime where bankers bank, insurers write insurance policies, and brokers provide market services.  Instead, we’re trying so hard to bend over backwards to preserve big business and the investment class that first Bush and now Obama are looking ludicrous.

This could also be taken as a signal that there’s a reason these assets are called toxic: they’re not worth anyone owning at the end of the day.