John Taylor has an interesting Op-Ed in the WSJ today purporting to have done the research and determined that letting Lehman fail was not the cause of the panic.
While interest rate spreads increased slightly on Monday, Sept. 15, they stayed in the range observed during the previous year, and remained in that range through the rest of the week. On Friday, Sept. 19, the Treasury announced a rescue package, though not its size or the details. Over the weekend the package was put together, and on Tuesday, Sept. 23, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson testified before the Senate Banking Committee. They introduced the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), saying that it would be $700 billion in size. A short draft of legislation was provided, with no mention of oversight and few restrictions on the use of the funds.
The two men were questioned intensely and the reaction was quite negative, judging by the large volume of critical mail received by many members of Congress. It was following this testimony that one really begins to see the crisis deepening and interest rate spreads widening.
The realization by the public that the government’s intervention plan had not been fully thought through, and the official story that the economy was tanking, likely led to the panic seen in the next few weeks. And this was likely amplified by the ad hoc decisions to support some financial institutions and not others and unclear, seemingly fear-based explanations of programs to address the crisis. What was the rationale for intervening with Bear Stearns, then not with Lehman, and then again with AIG? What would guide the operations of the TARP?
The core of Taylor’s argument, beyond finding fault with Greenspan, Bernanke and Paulson, is that arbitrary action by the government causes panic and paralysis. There’s a compelling logic to what Taylor writes. But there’s also a nagging feeling that his research is biased toward his own intellectual assumptions.
Source:
How Government Created the Financial Crisis
by JOHN B. TAYLOR
Wall Street Journal; February 9, 2008
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123414310280561945.html
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