Break Up The Banks

Treasury Secretary Geithner proposed a $1 trillion plan to help Wall Street make a killing buying "toxic assets" with our tax dollars and guarantees. And he proposed a complex regulatory scheme to keep huge financial institutions from wrecking our economy once again.

But there's a better and simpler solution: break up those huge financial institutions. If they're "too big to fail," then they're too big to exist.

Returning to the banks and insurance companies that existed before the Reagan era would not hurt our economy. As Paul Krugman writes, "that boring, primitive financial system serviced an economy that doubled living standards over the course of a generation."

NATIONALIZE: Insolvent banks that are too big to fail must incur a temporary FDIC intervention - no more blank check taxpayer handouts. (see Paul Krugman on nationalization)