THE FREE MARKET FAIRY LOSES SOME FANS!

U.S. May Take Ownership Stake in Banks
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS and MARK LANDLER
Published: October 8, 2008
NY Times

WASHINGTON — Having tried without success to unlock frozen credit markets, the Treasury Department is considering taking ownership stakes in many United States banks to try to restore confidence in the financial system, according to government officials.

The idea is gaining support even among longtime Republican policy makers who have spent most of their careers defending laissez-faire economic policies.

“The problem is the uncertainty that people have about doing business with banks, and banks have about doing business with each other,” said William Poole, a staunchly free-market Republican who stepped down as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis on Aug. 31. “We need to eliminate that uncertainty as fast as we can, and one way to do that is by injecting capital directly into banks. I think it could be done very quickly."

Meanwhile, the wingnuts are busy trying to make Obama appear to be a socialist.