Blog - Thinking About the Mess

It’s going to take some time for Congress to respond to the financial-market meltdown with legislation, but here’s where the brainstorming is beginning:

>The turmoil on Wall Street is prompting a key congressional Democrat to consider a broad federal market rescue that could include creating a new government entity to take over collapsed financial institutions and sell off their assets, as lawmakers did during the 1980s savings and loan crisis.
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>Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the House Financial Services Committee chairman, said a body like the Resolution Trust Corp. – the largely taxpayer-financed company that seized and liquidated the savings and loans – might be needed in coming months to stabilize markets and prevent more implosions at major financial institutions.

via the AP.