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World according to TARP - PAULSON BAILOUT PLAN

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Let’s hear it for the acronyms, especially now that we’ve graduated to four letters; Forget CDS, CDO and SIV - it’s time to talk TARP. Yes folks, it’s the Troubled Asset Relief Program , or as we like to say here on FT Alphaville, the Mother of All Bail-outs. WHO IS REALLY GETTING THE HELP HERE? Here’s a quick crib to the MOAB: What?: According to Bank of America, the goal of the program “is to preclude or at least postpone systematic failures in financial institutions.” The Treasury’s description is slightly more long-winded: “This program is intended to fundamentally and comprehensively address the root cause of our financial system’s stresses by removing distressed assets from the financial system” Come again?: The US Treasury, through this MOAB, will buy up to $700bn in assets, financed by an equivalent issuance of government bonds and defined as “residential or commercial mortgages and any securities, obligations, or other instruments that are based on or related to such mortgages...
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Death Spiral Financing at WaMu, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Death Spiral Financing at WaMu, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup : "Quite unbeknownst to the general public at the time, downside protection was built into these equity raises to protect these investors. They are called “look back” provisions or “full ratchet” compensation. We believe it is more accurate to call them “death spiral” securities. They work as follows. The investors in the equity raise would have their investment “protected” by a provision which states that should the bank afterwards raise money at a lower price than what they paid, these investors would be compensated retroactively by having their initial investment priced at this lower price, thereby being issued new shares for free. It doesn’t take a mathematician to see how these provisions can result in massive dilution should the bank subsequently raise even a paltry amount of capital. A new offering will trigger a lower price because of the dilution it would cause, which would...
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