Public Works, Not Bailouts, Will Ease The Financial Crisis

摘要

The dramatic, total collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the simultaneous economic surrender and forced sale of Merrill Lynch show the stakes in the subprime lending crisis continue to escalate to a level few would have imagined a year ago. These institutions had the bad luck of not being first in the line of failures, and the penalties for their sins are far more severe than those imposed on Bear Stearns in March and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this summer. Those private-sector firms received controversial and potentially expensive public assistance that was misguided.