Time for Wall Street to Ex Ante Up!
Jun 17, 2010 Issues: Financial Services
If you have been watching the conference committee deliberations on finance reform on C-SPAN, you know the debate has included a discussion of the ex-ante fund. This is the fund that had Republicans so animated in the House and Senate debate that they resorted to making stuff up to attack the concept. The concept is solid: when a big bank fails, the financial industry itself ought to pay for the cleanup and selling off the components of the failed entity. The House version of the Wall Street reform bill has a $150 billion fund -- pre-paid by the big banks -- that would cover the cost. The Senate bill does not and asks big banks to help defray the costs after-the-fact if a big bank fails.
