The markets got themselves bent out of shape today when powerful House banking committee chair Barney Frank said that Democrats wanted the government to demand equity in return for taking toxic assets off the books and implied that the Administration had agreed. Now he’s back peddling as fast as he can.
My take: Barney lied, my portfolio dived.
Frank tonight withdrew his earlier assertion that Paulson had agreed that the U.S. will get equity in companies that receive government aid.
“I overstated” the level of agreement on equity, Frank said. Still, he said, “we’ve gotten closer to where we think it ought to be.”
