The Invisible Recovery

To whom it may concern,

In order to relieve banks and other investment firms of the toxic assets on their balance sheets, the government plans to develop various means to buy them up. The federal government is effectively removing these failed investments from the private sector by adding it to the national debt. When the market stabilizes, it is assumed that these assets will once again become valuable, and the government can then dissolve its assets. But until then, the government will have to act as collector and creditor for these funds. And since these toxic assets can be traced back to individuals who are now walking away from their homes, the money will only continue to dry up. I do not understand how this strategy will benefit this country in that it risks the insolvency of the national treasury. While many other aspects of the administration's recovery plan will produce concrete public infrastructure and rehabilitation projects, these new financial programs appear to only add a new, sub-market that functions as a parallel to the private market. How will these billions be recouped, and how will it be repaid to the American taxpayer? It is not like capital injections where we receive shares that can then be resold. How can we resell an investment that created this crisis and that everyone is running away from?

GUNNAR HAND, AICP