COMMENT The moment of truth for the Obama administration arrived on Tuesday when Tim Geithner, Treasury secretary, unveiled a plan for rescuing the US financial system, where the global crisis began. After many false starts under their predecessors, President Barack Obama and Mr Geithner had one chance to show this time was different. Sadly, this ill-defined plan is not different enough.
The government will try to reignite securitised lending through a new public-private investment fund for toxic assets and by expanding existing Fed facilities for consumer lending. This could revive non-bank credit markets independently of whether banks are put back on a sound footing.
