The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Ten years ago today, the Obama Administration unveiled its $1 trillion plan to shore up the banking industry amid the financial crisis. Here is how ABC News reported it at the time:
President Obama said today that his economic team is “very confident” that the administration’s newest effort to stabilize banks – a mix of public and private funds that could total $1 trillion – will help to free up credit.
The president spoke shortly after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner officially announced the long-anticipated program.
The plan aims to remove so-called toxic assets – many of them bad mortgage investments – from the banks’ balance sheets through a private-public partnership. The program will rely heavily on private investors, such as hedge funds and private-equity firms, to buy up $500 billion to $1 trillion of assets with the government providing incentives such as low interest loans and sharing in both the risk and possible profits.
Wall Street responded favorably, with the Dow jumping 500 points to 7,785 (at 6.8 percent, then the fifth biggest gain in history.
Fast forward 10 years: Congress and the Trump Administration are hashing out their own $1.8 trillion plan of their own this week to support Americans and businesses coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.