Finally...something I can agree with

As the Obama Administration's plans to lift toxic assets off bank balance sheets took form, speculation swirled over whether private-sector investors could be enticed to take part. Now another question is looming: Will the banks participate? On Mar. 23, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner unveiled the latest effort by the government to stabilize banks and unlock frozen credit markets. The long-awaited plan would use $75 billion to $100 billion of federal bailout funds—together with an equal amount of private-sector money and federal loans and guarantees that could bring the total investment to $1 trillion over time—to buy questionable, mostly mortgage-backed assets from banks.

The market soared in response, with the Dow Jones industrial average rising nearly 500 points, or 6.8%. The financial industry hailed the plan as a solid fix that could revive a moribund credit market. But while that reaction relieved some of the immediate pressures on Geithner and the Administration, it was hardly unanimous. Critics called it a series of opaque subsidies that, at best, would prop up the banks and their shareholders without doing much to revive lending. And the embattled Treasury secretary clearly knows he faces huge challenges ahead. "One day's [market] reaction does not make a plan," he said, speaking later that evening at a conference on the future of finance sponsored by The Wall Street Journal.

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