Clark Center Forum

We have a full blown panic in financial markets. Any but the safest assets are being heavily discounted.  Policy makers have to be thinking in more radical terms than they have done so far to fight the contagion.  But that is no reason to do the wrong thing. View PDF > 

As opposition mounts to the Treasury Department’s $700 billion behemoth of a banking bailout package the ideas for alternatives are starting to fly fast and furiously around the halls of Congress and beyond. Sen. Chuck Schumer asked why so much money needed to be injected into the mortgage and credit markets in one fall swoop—why […] 

Op-ed The Wall Street Journal – Sept. 24th, 2008 The financial system is the heart of our economy and it is in trouble. If we do not fix it soon, we risk a serious recession. Read more > 

Op-ed Daily News – Sept. 24th, 2008 Read more > 

Anil K Kashyap and Jeremy Stein Op-ed The New York Times – Sept. 23rd, 2008 Henry Paulson, the Treasury secretary, has opened the government checkbook and is poised to spend $700 billion to end the financial crisis. What comes next depends on the precise mission and operating powers he and Congress assign the new Treasury […] 

There are alternatives to a massive government bailout of the U.S. financial industry, according to Luigi Zingales–they just would be more costly for financiers and cheaper for taxpayers. Read more >