Needlenose

WaPo:

The director of the Congressional Budget Office said yesterday that the proposed Wall Street bailout could actually worsen the current financial crisis.

During testimony before the House Budget Committee, Peter R. Orszag — Congress’s top bookkeeper — said the bailout could expose the way companies are stowing toxic assets on their books, leading to greater problems.

“Ironically, the intervention could even trigger additional failures of large institutions, because some institutions may be carrying troubled assets on their books at inflated values,” Orszag said in his testimony. “Establishing clearer prices might reveal those institutions to be insolvent.”
…
Such companies “look solvent today only because it’s kind of hidden,” Orszag said. “They actually are insolvent” already, he said.
…
In yesterday’s interview, Orszag said, “The key question is: What are we buying and what are we paying for it?“

The $700B bailout is sounding more and more like applying bandage before checking to see how deep the wound goes. Maybe they should figure out first if it’s a scratch or a sucking chest wound.