"...banks should remain in private hands."

On Feb. 23, 2009 the Treasury, FDIC, OCC, OTS, and the Federal Reserve made a joint statement concluding with the following paragraph.

"Currently, the major U.S. banking institutions have capital in excess of the amounts required to be considered well capitalized. This program is designed to ensure that these major banking institutions have sufficient capital to perform their critical role in our financial system on an ongoing basis and can support economic recovery, even under an economic environment that is more challenging than is currently anticipated. The customers and the providers of capital and funding can be assured that as a result of this program participating banks will be able to move forward to provide the credit necessary for the stabilization and recovery of the U.S. economy. Because our economy functions better when financial institutions are well managed in the private sector, the strong presumption of the Capital Assistance Program is that banks should remain in private hands."

The April 26 NY Times article entitled Geithner, Member and Overseer of Finance Club should be read carefully because it gives a strong indication of the meaning of "private hands."

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