Bank Failures

To whom it may concern,

With the release of the second $350 billion for the Troubled Asset Relief Fund, many Americans are now hoping that this money will be used for its original intent. The first round of TARP funds did little more than reduce quarterly losses for major banks and in fact did nothing for the secondary market, which is where these assets began to implode and where the capital for lending is currently stagnating. If a bank is too large to fail, then it should be broken up by the government, since capitalistic competition has failed to do so on its own. Alan Greenspan has spoken on this failure of the market and these institutions to self-regulate. Now, before we inject more money into these banks, albeit with a significantly more stringent set of conditions attached, we must rethink this strategy and weight it against nationalization and bankruptcy. Will this administration allow these larger financial institutions to fail like it has allowed 19 smaller banks to fail so far this year and how will the administration of the second round of TARP funds differ from the previous? While recognizing the efforts to make the second round of TARP more transparent and accountable, how has your strategy changed in regards to both the banking industry and stemming the wave of housing foreclosures?

GUNNAR HAND, AICP