White House considers ownership stakes in banks

The Bush administration is considering taking ownership stakes in certain U.S. banks as an option for dealing with a severe global credit crisis.
An administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because no decision has been made, said the $700 billion rescue package passed by Congress last week allows the Treasury Department to inject fresh capital into financial institutions and get ownership shares in return.
This official said all the new powers granted in the legislation were being considered as the administration seeks to deal with a serious credit crisis that has caused the biggest upheavals on Wall Street in seven decades and continues to roil global markets.

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US ‘will lose financial superpower status’

The US will lose its role as a global financial “superpower” in the wake of the financial crisis, Peer Steinbrück, the German finance minister, said on Thursday, blaming Washington for failing to take the regulatory steps that might have averted the crisis.
“The US will lose its status as the superpower of the world financial system. This world will become multi­polar” with the emergence of stronger, better capitalised centres in Asia and Europe, Mr Steinbrück told the German parliament. “The world will never be the same again.”

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Lessons America Can't Teach Us Now

American capitalism could still teach the rest of the world a few lessons - but it's increasingly teaching us what never to do if you are a country loyal to a free-market economy.
For instance:

Never nationalize a troubled insurance company, especially two days after the Treasury and the FED say that no more taxpayer money will be used to rescue bankrupt financial companies.

As a government, never interfere to rescue and sell a failed investment bank and then decide several months later not to do the same for other failed investment banks. Applying that kind of double standard for the same species of financial creature signals to the market that monetary authorities are making up the rules as they go along. That lack of a strategic or systemic view takes a toll on market confidence.

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