The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
March 24, 2009

Report: Geithner Changed Plan After Pressure from Hedge Funds
-------------------------------------------------------------



The Dow Jones Index jumped nearly seven percent Monday after Treasury
Secretary Timothy Geithner introduced a plan for hedge funds and other
private investors to receive government financing to purchase as much as
$1 trillion of so-called toxic assets. The Washington Post reports the
Treasury made the program more attractive to private investors after
listening to the concerns of hedge funds and private equity funds. The
Treasury increased private investors’ share of potential profits from 20
percent to 50 percent. Critics say the plan is written to favor hedge
funds and other private investors, instead of taxpayers. If the assets
go up in value, the hedge funds stand to benefit greatly, but if the
assets fall, taxpayers bear most of the risk. President Obama said said
the plan was a key part to rebuilding the nation’s financial system.

President Obama: “As all of you know, we have been busy on a whole host
of fronts over the last several weeks, with the primary purpose of
stabilizing the financial system, so banks are lending again, so that
the secondary markets are working again, in order to make sure that
families can get basic consumer loans, auto loans, student loans, that
small businesses are able to finance themselves, and we can start
getting this economy moving again.”

President Obama will be holding a prime time news conference tonight at
8:00 p.m. EST.



.